Now that man-child DeAndre Jordan has decided to take his binky back to Los Angeles, the biggest story in the NBA right now involves Deron Williams and two teams whose 2016 1st round picks belong to your Boston Celtics. Via ESPN:
Former All-Star point guard Deron Williams is in talks with the Brooklyn Nets about securing his potential release this offseason to clear the way for Williams to sign with his hometown Dallas Mavericks, according to league sources.
Sources told ESPN.com that the Nets, whose well-chronicled hope is moving out both Williams and fellow former cornerstone Joe Johnson before the start of next season, have opened buyout talks with Williams on the remaining two years and $43.3 million of his contract.
Sources say the Mavericks, by contrast, are very motivated to sign Williams after being spurned in free agency by DeAndre Jordan, provided Williams can extricate himself from the Nets and get to the open market.
The Mavericks, sources said, are not pursuing a trade for Williams because of salary-cap space such a move would eat up.
Since NBA buyouts are typically 70% of the contract value (according to some Tweet I read but can’t recall the source), the Nets might be paying Deron Williams $30 million to go away. The move would save them millions on their tax bill but slide them towards the bottom of the Eastern Conference. Such a scenario could land the Celtics a top 7 pick. Even higher if Brooklyn dumps Joe Johnson. Giddy up.
Because the Mavericks 1st round pick is top 7 protected, we want Dallas to be bad, but not too bad. The acquisition of Deron Williams would likely keep them out of the lottery, but not good enough to be anything more than the 8th seed in the West. The Celtics could be looking at a pick in the 10-14 range. Giddy up, again.
Bottom line: Get on your knees every night and pray for the Nets to buyout Williams.
In other news, Vlade Divac says the relationship between George Karl and DeMarcus Cousins is not pretty. I still believe the Kings dump Karl before trading Cousins, but crazier things have happened in Sac-town.
Vlade, Danny Ainge is on line 4.
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