Why Dwight Howard Opt-In Means Nets' Deron Williams Is Dallas-Bound

Dwight Howard is staying with the Orlando Magic and will waive his opt-out clause for 2012-13, according to ESPN.com, which means that any hopes of him teaming up with Deron Williams for the New Jersey Nets are out the window. Williams will most likely head to the Dallas Mavericks.

Since Howard pulled a stunner and basically state that he would re-up with the Magic, rather than test the waters of free agency, Williams is left in New Jersey holding the metaphorical bag.

He’s on a team that is clearly very devoid of elite talent other than him, and that will push him to the greener pastures of Dallas. There, Mark Cuban will use the ridiculous amount of cap space available to bring in a few more players (or maybe even Howard) to make Dallas a super team that can compete with the Miami Heats of the world.

It was pretty obvious to everyone that the only way Williams would stay with the Nets long term was if they brought in a guy like Howard to help him win.

With the roster they have right now, there is no way they’ll be competing at a high level any time soon, and it will probably also take a while for them to even get into serious playoff contention.

I’m sure the Nets are scrambling right now, shocked at how the Howard situation ended up. An earlier report from Yahoo! Sports had stated that the entire situation was just a ploy by Howard to keep people from realizing his true intentions of leaving for New Jersey.

Then, it looked like the Nets would be a serious contender next season, with two top-notch players at the two most important positions on the floor: center and point guard.

Now, they are left with a roster filled with the likes of Jordan Farmar, Mehmet Okur and Gerald Green. There are some bright spots in Brook Lopez, Kris Humphries and MarShon Brooks. However, those bright spots won’t be enough to keep D-Will in Brooklyn next season.

One issue that has been brought up is the size of the market. Reports have stated that Williams has been impressed with how much the move to New Jersey has helped his marketability. He has picked up “endorsements for Audi, Metro PCS, Bonobos suits and Red Bull among others.”

For most players, that marketability might keep them there. But it won’t for Williams for two reasons.

The first is that the guy calls Dallas home. Williams group up in The Colony, which is a Denton Country suburb of Dallas. He has family there, including his own and that of his wife. He played all of his high school ball there before heading to college at Illinois.

The second reason is Mark Cuban. Dallas isn’t a small city, but normally it would not be able to get a guy the marketability he would want. However, with a high-profile owner such as Cuban, things would be different.

Cuban is one of the most recognized figures in the sporting world with too many connections to even understand. He could help Williams with the endorsements.

All of those factors might not have been enough before, but now that he knows Howard can’t join him in New Jersey this offseason, Williams can start packing his bags for Dallas.