NBA Trade Rumors: Deron Williams Will Go with No Dwight Howard

According to the latest reports, the New Jersey Nets getting Dwight Howard is dead for right now. Between Brook Lopez getting injured and out up to eight weeks, coupled with the trade to get Mehmet Okur to take his place, the Nets ability to work a trade for Dwight Howard took two serious blows. 

The two major pieces the Nets were offering were Lopez and the ability to absorb the contract of Hedo Turkoglu. Yesterday's events remove both of those possibilities. 

Deron Williams, like all players in this situation now, is looking first and foremost for a chance to compete for titles. Without Dwight Howard, that's just not going to happen in New Jersey. 

He deserves credit. He was essentially snatched out of Utah where he spent the first part of his career. He learned of his trade to New Jersey from ESPN watching SportsCenter. That's rough. 

He went to a team that was one of the worst in the league and initially was pretty agitated about his situation. 

However, over time he grew to the point where it sounded like he was going to give the Nets a chance to build a team around him and, if they did, he would stay. 

Now it's looking like more and more of a problem. While the Nets have certainly tried to get players to come and play, they just aren't succeeding. 

It's hard to blame Williams. He didn't ask to be traded or force a trade like some other players have done, nor has he asked for one since coming to the Nets. 

There's still a snowball's chance in Orlando that a trade could work out. Otis Smith seems like he might want to push things to the trade deadline when Lopez would be better. Okur's contact expires this year, so it would essentially be the same as absorbing Turkoglu's contract.

He would be allowed to be traded since he didn't come over in a multi player deal. 

Still, yesterday's events are ominous if you're a Nets fan both in terms of getting Howard and keeping Williams.