Jason Kidd says close friend Deron Williams was closer to signing with Dallas Mavericks than people perceive
A few hours after Deron Williams decided to re-sign with the Brooklyn Nets, close friend and Dallas Mavericks veteran point guard Jason Kidd has said that Williams was closer to signing with the Mavericks than people would expect.
“Hopefully he comes out and tells his story of how he did it and how he decided, but I thought he was very close to going to Dallas. People will be very shocked to hear that or say I'm just saying that, but he really, truly, I
think, wanted to play at home. That was one of his ideas, playing at home, but it just didn't work out this time around,” said Kidd.
Williams was the biggest prize in this year’s free agency, and had the option of either re-signing with the Brooklyn bound Nets or moving to his hometown of Dallas to pair up with superstar Dirk Nowitzki.
During the season, Williams had said that he would move to another team after the season finished as he seemed to think that the Nets were not serious about building a championship calibre team. But Kidd says that Williams was
impressed with the roster upgrades that Nets General Manager Billy King was able to achieve. He signed Joe Johnson in a trade with the Atlanta Hawks, re-signed Gerald Wallace and also added Bosnian forward Mirza Teletovic while keeping Kris Humphries and MarShon
Brooks.
On the other hand, Dallas had Dirk Nowitzki in its roster but other than him, the team did not have many stars to boast about. Jason Terry is rumoured to be eyeing a possible move to the Boston Celtics for a three year deal.
“Honestly, it came down to the roster. Brooklyn made moves that improved the roster dramatically, and he saw things were going that way,” added Kidd.
It was an added advantage that the Nets were offering Williams a five year $98 million offer, while the Mavericks could only offer a four year $75 million offer due to the new Collective Bargaining Agreement.
Kidd and Williams were on the U.S Olympic team for the 2008 Beijing Olympics and have remained close friends since then.
Kidd had earlier talked about him and Williams collectively moving to either Dallas or New Jersey at the end of the season. He had said that he wanted to pair up with Williams for the remainder of his career and even went as far
as to say that D-Will was the only player for whom he was willing to relinquish his starting position.
However, the decision by Williams to move to the Nets dwindles any chances of the two pairing up in the same team. Kidd’s agent Jeff Schwartz has already held talks with the Mavericks team management for a possible return next
season.
The one guard is also in talks with the New York Knicks who were interested in Steve Nash before he was traded to the Los Angeles Lakers in a sign and trade deal by the Phoenix Suns.
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