Mark Cuban already past Deron Williams, still mad at Jason Kidd – NBA News
Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban seems to have moved past his unsuccessful bid for free agent point guard Deron Williams, but is still mad at former Mavericks point guard Jason Kidd for leaving the franchise abruptly and signing
with the New York Knicks.
Williams was the most pursued player in free agency this season and the Mavericks were interested in the All Star point guard, enticing him with a four year offer worth $73 million.
However, Cuban now says that even though he did put forward the offer, he was never sure whether it was the right decision for the franchise. He adds that with Williams on the roster and Dirk Nowitzki already signed, it would have
created certain salary cap issues for the club.
"I don't want to pick on Deron Williams because he's a great, great, great player, and so it's not necessarily him, per se. The conversation we had going back and forth -- and obviously the decision was to go for him -- but the
conversation was, 'OK, once you add $17.1 million in salary to what we'd have with Dirk and Trix (Shawn Marion), then what do you do?' That's your squad. And it's not just your squad for this year,” said Cuban while making an appearance on ESPN Dallas 103.3
FM’s “Ben and Skin Show”.
Williams eventually joined the Brooklyn Nets for a five year max offer that will pay him around $100 million over the course of the contract. The Mavericks rebounded well from the loss and traded for point guard Darren Collison,
while also signing shooting guard O.J. Mayo and centre Chris Kaman. They then picked up free agent Elton Brand off amnesty waivers after the Philadelphia 76ers used their amnesty clause on him in the offseason.
But Cuban is still not happy with the decision of Jason Kidd to join the New York Knicks. The veteran one guard had agreed on a three year $9 million deal with the Mavericks before signing with the Knicks for essentially the same
contract.
Cuban said that he thought Kidd was committed to the franchise and had a good relationship with the front office and the ownership, and was quite shocked when he suddenly announced that he was signing with the Knicks after having
a verbal agreement with the Mavericks. So far, Cuban has refused requests by some fans of Kidd to retire his Mavericks jersey.
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