Deron Williams in a dilemma: Dallas or Brooklyn?
When NBA free agency starts at midnight July One, Brooklyn Nets star guard Deron Williams will be choosing from a 2-team list that only features the Nets and the Dallas Mavericks, according to sources close to the situation. Low juice nfl betting
Sources expounded that, while this summer’s No. 1 free agent remains “up in the air” concerning which team he’ll at last selected, Williams already has decided to narrow his list of potential destinations to those 2 organizations.
Other teams, including the Suns, Portland Trail Blazers and Houston Rockets, had been looking to lodge their own bids for Williams once free agency begins, sources announced. The Los Angeles Lakers, likewise have continued to express interest in a sign-and-trade package built around Pau Gasol for Williams, sources say, despite the Nets’ longstanding demand that they have no interest in Gasol and would only consider such a move if they were getting back All-Star center Andrew Bynum, whom the Lakers have not provided.
Sources say Williams, in any case, already has instructed his delegates to advise any team that calls starting at 12:01 a.m. July 1 that he plans to either re-sign with the Nets or return to his hometown with the Mavericks.
The Nets have expressed confidence all season in their abilities to retain Williams, pointing to the team’s forthcoming move to Brooklyn, increased off-court marketing chances for Williams with a team bound for New York and the proven fact that Russian billionaire owner Mikhail Prokhorov can supply a deal one year longer than Dallas can worth just about $100 million.
The maximum 4-year offer the Mavericks can counter with approaches $75 million. But sources close to the process say Williams has ruled out every other suitor apart from the 2011 champions because of his respect for Mavs keystones Dirk Nowitzki and Jason Kidd and his belief that owner Mark Cuban would make the follow-up moves important to return Dallas to title contention after a 1st-round exit in the 2012 playoffs.
During a promotional appearance in Los Angeles earlier in the month, Williams made it obvious that he’ll choose the team he feels is best positioned to say for a championship fastest, expressing disappointment that he has tasted little of the playoffs since leading Utah to the Western Conference finals in 2007.
“I want to go to a location where I feel just like they will have a chance to build and build fast,” Williams related. “I’m not really in the mood for being a part of a rebuilding process. I am getting older. I am about to be 28. I would like to win. I want to win now. Also, I would like to live in a place where I want to live and my children will love living. That is just about it.”
The decision, then, would appear to be riding on which team’s future he rates higher.
The All-Star guard is lined up to join his Team USA teammates in Las Vegas on July 5 for the 1st day of training camp before the London Olympic Games, but Williams will likely be forced to sit out practices until July 11, which is the 1st day new agreements can legally be signed this offseason.