Deron Williams: New Jersey Nets Point Guard To Have Season-Ending Surgery

Deron Williams Is Having Surgery To Fix a Wrist Injury and Will Be Sidelined for the Rest of the Year

It's a disappointing end to the first stretch for Deron Williams in New Jersey.

The star point guard will have surgery on an injured wrist that had slowed him down as of late and had gotten to the point where it was time to have the injury taken care of so that he can come back healthy next year.

In fact, this is something that should have happened a long, long time ago. This isn't a recent thing, and the Nets have tried to keep Williams in the lineup. However, my question is, for what? Are a couple of games and the subsequent ticket sales worth keeping Williams out there with a bum wrist?

I know that there wasn't potential for him to further the damage, but it's not like New Jersey was in contention for a playoff spot. The team should have done what was best for both sides and put him on the shelf a long time ago.

Mikhail Prokhorov isn't stupid. He's a great businessman and he traded for Williams because it's an investment in the future of this team as it heads to Brooklyn. The Nets still have to ink Williams to an extension and build around him in the offseason, and that's the crucial element in this situation.

New Jersey has to be active in the free-agent market this year to prove to Williams that this is a franchise that's committed to winning, something New Jersey hasn't done in years. Losing caused issues with Williams in Utah, and while the Nets have tried to pitch him a vision of the future, those are just words at this point.

If the Nets go out into the free-agent market and completely miss on the top targets, then Williams will have to be skeptical of New Jersey's ability to not just compete on the court, but compete for the top players on the open market.

This is a huge offseason for Prokhorov and the Nets. They can't afford to screw this up.