Report: Deron Williams To Leave Nets Unless They Land Dwight Howard

This was coming sooner or later. You could see it in Deron Williams’ body language that he’s unhappy with the way things are going in New Jersey and he wants more help (it’d be a little easier if Brook Lopez wasn’t injured). Although he only played in 12 games with the Nets last season after he was dealt from Utah, Williams was still able to conjure up 15.0 points and 12.8 assists. This season? 18.4 points (37.2% from the floor), 8.4 assists and a career-high 4.3 turnovers.

Those are solid numbers but Williams is struggling, and mightily.

Hoopdata.com states that Williams PER is the lowest of his career (17.00) and his scoring is down as well (he’s connecting on 50.9% of his shots at the rim, 20% from 3-9 feet, 37.5% from 10-15 feet and 30% from 16-23 feet). Shockingly, his defense has gotten better, though. Opposing point guards are only averaging a PER of 19.23 instead of high 20s from 2008 to 2011.

When Deron first got dealt to Jersey, he said that he wanted to stay with the team and build something special when they make their move to Brooklyn this summer and now, ESPN’s Chris Broussard is reporting something different:

“Deron Williams’ first choice is to stay with the Nets and to build something special in Brooklyn, but if it doesn’t work out with his current team, his short list of desirable destinations includes the Mavericks, the Knicks and the Lakers, according to sources close to the situation.”

It makes sense for Williams to basically “threaten” the Nets organization by putting out a list of teams he wants to be traded to or sign with via free agency next summer. All three are in desperate need of a point guard and since Paul will more than likely stay with the young Clippers, there isn’t a better PG for a team to acquire than Williams (Nash is no longer better than him).

Williams wants Dwight Howard in uniform, there’s no doubt about that. He feels that if he can get Howard — Turkoglu will more than likely be involved in a deal — then they can compete for an NBA title in the Eastern Conference.

But as of right now, everything depends on Howard’s moves:

“If the Nets are able to obtain Howard, either through a trade before the March 15 deadline or in free agency this summer, Williams will re-sign. If Howard goes elsewhere, Williams is likely to leave New Jersey, according to the sources.”

“So if Orlando trades Howard before the deadline to a team he plans to re-sign with, such as the Los Angeles Lakers, the Nets will begin exploring trades for Williams, a source said. The Nets, however, will not consider trading Williams until obtaining Howard is no longer a possibility because the club believes it has a great chance of teaming the two together in Brooklyn, if not this season.”

“If Howard does go elsewhere, the Nets will be faced with the same dilemma New Orleans faced in moving Chris Paul — finding a trade partner that Williams will sign with long term because few, if any, teams will be willing to part with major assets for a two-month rental. So Williams will have a large say in where he winds up.”

If Howard doesn’t end up in New Jersey, I expect Williams to go to the Knicks in the summer. It’s a great city to make business moves in and I don’t see him passing on guys like Carmelo Anthony, Amar’e Stoudemire and Tyson Chandler (although one will end up getting traded) to go play with an aging Kobe in Los Angeles, despite him averaging 30.4 points a game this year. Even if Williams wanted to go to L.A., they lack any kind of promising young talent and don’t even have the cap room to acquire him unless it’s through a trade.

Broussard when on to say that if the Nets can’t acquire Howard before the March deadline then they’ll risk losing him in free agency rather than trading him away for marginal players who won’t get them anywhere.

If the Nets were smart, which they are now that they have a billionaire owner who’s willing to spend whatever it takes to bring a championship to the city, they’d do everything they can to make a promising trade with the Magic to acquire Howard because if they lose Williams in free agency during the summer, their move to Brooklyn won’t even matter if you can’t win any games.