Jay Williams calls out fellow former Duke star Grayson Allen
Milwaukee Bucks guard Grayson Allen has received a lot of criticism after being assessed a flagrant two foul on Friday night on a play that will force Chicago Bulls guard Alex Caruso to miss at least 6-8 weeks. Allen, who played college basketball for the Duke Blue Devils, just got called out by fellow former Duke star Jay Williams.
“I don’t know how many times I have said this about Grayson Allen,” Williams tweeted. “He is a habitual offender & the late swipe with the right hand is COMPLETELY unnecessary. This is complete BS.”
During the play, Caruso went up while driving towards the basket. Allen got tied up with him, and seemingly took a swipe with his right hand very late in the play. At the time of the ejection, Allen had five points and three rebounds. The Bucks went on to win the game, 94-90.
Allen was selected with the 21st overall pick in the 2018 NBA Draft by the Utah Jazz. After one year in Utah, he went to the Memphis Grizzlies, where he played two seasons. This season is his first in Milwaukee. This season, he has started 40 games, averaging 11.8 points, 3.4 rebounds, 1.3 assists, and 0.8 steals per game. In his NBA career, he is averaging 9.3 points per game.
Williams is far from the only person to express frustrations with Allen
Allen has a reputation that dates back to his college days at Duke. He has been tabbed as a “dirty” player by many. After the play on Friday night, Bulls head coach Billy Donovan expressed his frustration with Allen’s antics, pointing out his “history” of plays like this.
“It was really bad. It was really, really bad,” Donovan told reporters. “I’ll just say this: We lost Patrick (Williams) on a flagrant foul to a pretty significant injury. … For Alex to be in the air like that and for him to take him down like that, it could’ve ended his career. And (Allen) has a history of this. That, to me, was really dangerous.”
In addition to Donovan’s comments, the Bulls have both publicly and privately shared their frustrations with the play from Allen with the NBA league office.
The Bulls are currently tied with the Miami Heat for second place in the Eastern Conference, trailing the Brooklyn Nets by 0.5 games. The Bucks are just one game back from Brooklyn, sitting in fourth place in the East. Now, the Bulls will have to move forward without one of their top contributors in Caruso, who just returned from injuries and health and safety protocols.