After four and a half years of Nets fans waiting around for vintage Deron Williams from Utah to appear, the former All-Star point guard and the Brooklyn Nets have reached a buyout agreement. The buyout is reportedly worth $27.5 million. Reports suggest that Deron Williams plans to sign a 2 year $10 million deal with his hometown Dallas Mavericks as soon as he is eligible to. He had 2 years and $43 million left on his 5 year max contract with the Brooklyn Nets.
The Deron Williams experiment just never worked out for the Nets. In February of 2011, after failing to land Carmelo Anthony via trade at the deadline, GM Billy King acted quickly to give the Utah Jazz a call and put together an appealing offer for then superstar Deron Williams. After shipping Devin Harris, Derrick Favors, and future draft picks (one of which became Enes Kanter) to Salt Lake City, Nets fans were ecstatic to have finally landed a franchise player. The only problem was that Williams never became that player. The Nets invested their entire franchise in him, and nearly every transaction was made to please him. Among those transactions to appease Williams was the nightmare trade in which the Nets dealt a lottery pick (which turned into Damian Lillard) to Portland for Gerald Wallace. In fact, Deron Williams was often referred to as the assistant to the assistant coach. Towards the end of his tenure with the Nets, it was more appropriate to refer to him as the backup to the backup point guard.
It’s a shame that the player the Nets once invested their entire franchise in has just been let go of for nothing but salary cap relief, but at this point, the move is beneficial to everyone involved. After Brooklyn spent well over $120 million in luxury tax payments alone the past three years, they will finally be able to avoid paying that bill entirely this season. This move also frees up plenty of cap space for next summer, something the Nets haven’t had since 2012 when they handed Williams a $100 million contract. Financials aside, this move really doesn’t hurt the Nets that much on the basketball court. During a stretch that lasted multiple weeks, Lionel Hollins benched Deron Williams in favor of backup Jarrett Jack, who often played as if he deserved the max contract more than Williams did. In addition to Jack, Brooklyn has plenty of point guard depth with Steve Blake, Shane Larkin, and Ryan Boatright all on the roster.
As for Deron Williams, he gets a chance to leave a situation in Brooklyn in which he just never lived up to expectations. Whether the coach, the system, or the many injuries to his wrist and ankles received the blame, excuses for Williams’ lackluster play were constantly being made. Remember in the summer of 2013 when the new coach of the Brooklyn Nets and good friend of Williams, Jason Kidd, was supposed to turn him into an MVP candidate? Remember when a healthy Brook Lopez, quality shooters, and an above average pair of ankles was all he needed to get back on track? After four and a half years of waiting for the Deron Williams of old to return, it’s about time that the Brooklyn Nets realized they need to move on.
In Dallas, Williams will return to his hometown, and more importantly, he will be given a fresh start. The Mavs were in desperate need of a point guard, and after DeAndre Jordan decided to cowardly back out of his contract, Dallas had the money to sign Williams, something they have wanted to do since he was a free agent in 2012. With an excess of $11 million to spend and nearly every free agent already signed, this is a low risk, high reward move for Dallas. Does Williams make the Mavericks that much better? Probably not, but the expectations aren’t nearly as high for Williams as they were in Brooklyn, so as long as he plays better than Rajon Rondo did last season, this signing will be considered a success.
