As the Brooklyn Nets are slowly headed back to mediocrity, Deron Williams is seeking a release from the franchise in hopes of signing with his hometown team the Dallas Mavericks, ESPN’s Marc Stein reports.
The Mavericks and Williams share mutual interests and would love to strike a deal should the 10-year veteran part ways with Brooklyn. The Nets have shown the willingness to either trade him or Joe Johnson since their offseason began.
Williams is owned $43.3 million for the next two seasons but has an early termination option after the upcoming year. Buying him out would be the ideal way to erase his large contract off the books, but it will take plenty of time and a lot of negotiating to reach an agreement.
Although the Mavericks have $11.7 million in cap room still, trading for Williams’ $21 million contract will be relatively complicated. The Mavericks do not have any unneeded large contracts they could use in a potential trade.
When the Nets acquired Williams over four years ago, they were hoping to build a star-studded team around him and Brook Lopez. They managed to bring Joe Johnson to compliment Williams in the backcourt and later added veterans Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett, but those experiments failed miserably.
Now the Nets are actively shopping their backcourt duo of Johnson and Williams, but their expensive contracts have prevented Brooklyn from finding suitable deals. However, the Nets have held discussions with a couple teams involving Johnson but those talks have stalled.
As for Williams, the Sacramento Kings were the only team to inquire about him in the past, but they have moved forward after signing Rajon Rondo to a one-year, $9.5 million deal.
During the summer of 2012, the Mavericks were one of few teams to aggressively pursue Williams and were hoping to team him up with Dwight Howard. Those plans went haywire, and Williams ultimately remained in Brooklyn where his overall play has declined each and every season.
After DeAndre Jordan spurned the Mavericks to re-sign a maximum deal with the Los Angeles Clippers, Dallas has been desperately seeking for answers. They traded for Zaza Pachulia Thursday evening to fill the void at the center position.
With more than enough cap space, the Mavericks would gladly like to improve their point guard position as well by adding the three-time All-Star. If Williams is indeed bought out, he shouldn’t cost Dallas too much money since his stock has gone down over the last few years.
Despite his numbers plummeting season after season, Williams could nonetheless produce offensively, whether it’s scoring the ball or play making. He averaged 13.0 points, 6.6 assists, and 3.5 rebounds in 68 games for Brooklyn last season. The major issue for Williams has been the nagging ankle and wrist injuries he’s had to endure the last couple seasons. Otherwise, the Dallas-native is the ideal fit for a Mavericks team that lacks a true ball handler and play maker.
“It’s 60 to 70 percent that [Williams] winds up in Dallas,” a source told ESPN.