NBA Rumors: Chances of Deron Williams Returning to Nets Appear Slim

Let's be honest here—unless the New Jersey Nets, soon to be Brooklyn Nets, landed Dwight Howard via a trade, the likelihood of Deron Williams coming back to the team was pretty unlikely.

And now, in so many words he's echoed that very sentiment. From Marc J. Spears of Yahoo!:

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Unsolicited opinions via social media haven’t helped the New Jersey Nets’ cause in keeping Deron Williams. Neither does the unofficial title of team “assistant GM.” And fans can forget about playing the “loyalty” card, for it won’t stop Williams from hitting the free-agent market this summer.

“People get traded all the time,” Williams told Yahoo! Sports. “They don’t get backlash as an organization. If [players] leave, we are not loyal, we are ungrateful. People say stuff to me on Twitter. They already think I’m gone. They are out there bashing me, saying to me I’m a traitor.

“I didn’t ask to be here. I got traded. I didn’t come here being a free agent. This is the first time that I’m a free agent in my career.”

"

In other words, it was nice knowing you, Nets fans, but I'm out!

In regard to Howard, he said he that "if he would have come I probably would have stayed."

Ouch.

I suppose this shouldn't come as much of a surprise to anyone, given that Williams will be the premier free agent available this summer and the Nets aren't a very good team, thereby making it that much harder to entice him to stay.

And without any other elite players available in free agency, the best the Nets can hope to do would be to land another player to pair with Williams via a trade.

This offseason could be a nightmare for the Nets. In one fell swoop they could lose both Williams and their first-round pick to the Portland Trail Blazers, even though it is top-three protected.

Ouch again.

It isn't looking good for the unveiling of the Brooklyn Nets next year. If anybody knows that, it's Williams.

It would be hard to blame him for going to a better situation, perhaps to the Dallas Mavericks as has been rumored, where he could gun for an NBA title.

Time will tell. But life post-Deron seems almost assured at this point.

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