NBA Trade News: Why New Jersey Nets Must Move Deron Williams

It all sounded great for the New Jersey Nets. New big-shot owner Mikhail Prokhorov came to New Jersey to make some immediate noise. While we are still waiting for a move to Brooklyn to occur, he did land two-time NBA All-Star Deron Williams.

Sounds great.

Here’s the bad part: He obviously doesn’t want to be in New Jersey and in 2012 he will be an unrestricted free agent with a player option. Sounds like the Nets may be in a major jam.

Prokhorov has to swallow his pride and make the right decision, and that’s to trade Williams before he can scamper away for free.

The only way he should even consider keeping Williams is if they can somehow manage to get Dwight Howard before the trade deadline, but that seems as up-in-the-air as ever.

You would be hard pressed to find a worse start for a NBA owner if they can’t land Howard and Williams gets away for nothing.

Prokhorov gave up Derrick Favors, Devin Harris and two first-round picks to get Williams away from the Utah Jazz last season. It would look horrendous if they can’t bring Williams back.

Judging by Williams’ body language, he clearly isn’t interested in his current situation.

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"I don't think he feels it there," said a person who knows Williams and his tendencies well, according to CBSSports.com. "I could see him saying, 'I've got all the money. I can go back to Dallas. That's my home.' I don't see any spunk in his game right now. He's going through the motions."

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His statistics are in line with the fact that he is disinterested. Williams averaged 21.3 points on 45.8 percent shooting and 9.7 assists per game for Utah last season. Through seven games in 2011-12 Williams is averaging 18.3 points on 36 percent shooting and 6.4 assists per game.

You would think that he could score more than 18.3 points on a team that is lacking scoring threats. He should be up around his Utah numbers or even better.

I realize it’s difficult to be interested on a 2-and-6 club when you play in an arena that isn’t even close to being full every night. It also doesn’t help that in his division he has to play the New York Knicks and Boston Celtics, two teams that have multiple stars.

But when a player obviously isn’t giving 100 percent effort, there has to be major concerns. If he’s not giving you his all during a season when he’s making millions of dollars, chances are he’s not going to have a problem leaving you in the dust as soon as he has the opportunity.

Prokhorov needs to deal his star so he can get some value in return. It’s not exactly how he wants to begin playing in Brooklyn, but if he can’t land Howard then chances are he’s not keeping Williams.

The risk of not trading Williams heavily outweighs dealing the NBA All-Star. Could you imagine heading into the 2012-13 season and your leading scorer would be a second-year professional in MarShon Brooks with 14.1 points per game? Not exactly the best attraction.

Welcome to the NBA, Mikhail.