NBA Rumors: Deron Williams Not Signing Extension with Nets, Pressure Ramping Up
It turns out that the New Orleans Hornets shouldn't be the only team worrying about losing their All-Star point guard.
Arguably the best point guard in the league, Deron Williams will not be signing a contract extension with the New Jersey Nets and will instead opt out which makes him an unrestricted free agent in the 2012 offseason. He joins a long list of other All-Stars playing the field in 2012 with Chris Paul and Dwight Howard being other notables.
Williams is opting out from a business standpoint as he could be set to make $101 million over five years if he re-signs with the Nets or $73 million over four years with a different team. Either way, it's a drastic improvement than the two years and $39 million that would have been added to the two-year $31 million deal that he currently possesses.
The New Jersey Nets now face an immense amount of pressure on how to handle this situation. The direction of their team is at a standstill at the moment with the team hoping to cash in on this year's free agency, but will now have to retain some money in order to re-sign Williams next season. In a free-agency class like the one Williams will soon be a part of, extraneous loads of cash are going to be thrown at All-Stars from all corners of the league.
If teams are going to miss out on Chris Paul or Dwight Howard, then there's no doubt that Deron Williams becomes a nice backup option.
The two-time All-Star has spent seven years in the NBA and has quietly become one of the NBA's top point guards alongside the likes of Paul, Steve Nash and Derrick Rose. For the first six-and-a-half years of his career, Williams played with the Utah Jazz and led them to heights that they had only seen during the Karl Malone and John Stockton era.
Prior to joining the Nets, Williams had led the Jazz to three 50-win seasons and a Conference Finals appearance in 2007 where his team would bow out in five games to the eventual NBA champion San Antonio Spurs. It seemed as if Williams was happy with his successful team until word came in that he and legendary coach Jerry Sloan nearly came to blows during halftime following a heated argument.
Sloan would resign soon after and Williams would head to New Jersey in exchange for a few pieces. The Nets offense would run with a rhythm that they hadn't seen since the days of Jason Kidd, Vince Carter and Richard Jefferson, and it resulted in the team actually winning games and playing team basketball. Williams averaged 13 assists per in the 12 games he spent there.
New Jersey isn't exactly stacked on talent with Brook Lopez being one of the few bright spots, but the team does have excess money left over after striking out in the 2010 offseason. It could be used to re-sign Williams or possibly bring in Dwight Howard, who has been associated with rumors involving New Jersey.
Word is that the Nets have already made an offer that included sending Lopez and two future first-round picks over to the Magic for Howard and small forward Hedo Turkoglu. The deal works well for both sides as the Nets obtain Howard and a solid small forward which keeps Williams in New Jersey, while the Magic obtain a young center in Lopez and a few more investments in their two first-round picks.
Williams obviously wants to win which is part of the reason why he's out of Utah. New Jersey doesn't have a quality enough roster to be a championship contender, let alone a postseason threat, but they very well can with one trade that brings in the NBA's top center. The Nets have their intangibles with the move to Brooklyn and being partly owned by Sean "Jay-Z" Carter, which makes it a more desired location than most teams can boast.
With Williams and Howard combined, the results would be staggering. The team would be able to attract some quality role players that want to play with the two All-Stars and could become championship contenders in a few years. Williams proved in Utah how effective he can be with a big man when he played with Carlos Boozer, and giving him Howard would be like giving money to a kid in a candy shop.
In addition, Howard himself would be satisfied with the way the team is run. It's obvious that he's grown frustrated with his team's overall lack of care on defense or how the offense is run through the perimeter and not through him. Having Williams on the Nets only sweetens the offer for Dwight as faces the potential of playing on a championship-caliber team alongside one of the NBA's top point guards.
The ball is in the court of the Nets and they'll have to work fast as not to allow Williams to roam and think about which team has the best chance of winning. The Nets have the most money to work with to re-sign Williams and ink another player to a max deal thanks to the fact that the team's salary is only at $40 million for next year.
With a billionaire owner in Mikhail Prohkorov willing to spend his money; re-signing Williams, trading for and then re-signing Howard and then bringing in some quality role players would immediately make this Nets team (that was 12-70 only two years ago) a championship contender.
