Deron Williams is the unquestioned prize of this year’s free agent class and he knows it. Dwight Howard, afraid of being the bad guy in leaving Orlando, opted in for another year, so did Chris Paul. That leaves Williams as the number one guy available this season. There’s been return to Brooklyn rumors, there have been back home to Dallas rumors and because people think the Los Angeles Lakers can do anything, there’s been Deron to LA rumors. Williams, helping promote a new game called NBA Baller Beats at the E3 convention, didn’t shoot down the Lakers rumors. But he also didn’t reveal much else to the LA Times’ Mark Medina.
“I used to hate them. They pushed us out of the playoffs three years in a row,” Williams said of the Lakers, referring to when they beat Williams’ Utah Jazz each postseason from 2008 through 2010. “We’ll see.”
Williams is a really smart guy. He’s been outspoken about wanting to be a free agent this season, he’s said almost nothing but positive things about the Nets, even when everyone would understand if he came out and said “I do not know what the hell this franchise is doing.” He’s done an amazing job keeping his options as open as possible in a summer where only a handful of teams have the money to pay him a max contract. Williams acknowledged that the Lakers would have to work out a sign-and-trade since the Lakers will be maxed out on the salary cap until Kobe’s oldest daughter is ready to play in the WNBA.
Williams also denied an Adrian Wojnarowski report saying he wasn’t staying in Brooklyn unless they trade for Dwight Howard. Williams said he loves playing for head coach Avery Johnson and he’s excited about the move to Brooklyn. But he also said he’s not going anywhere where the team will have to go through a major rebuilding effort, which is what Brooklyn will be unless they make a ton of moves this summer or get Dwight Howard. Most people have no idea what Deron Williams wants to do in free agency and that’s exactly how he wants it.
