Cuban a reason Williams chose Nets over Mavs
Posted October 9, 2012 12:51 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Star point guard Deron Williams will start the 2012-13 season with the Brooklyn Nets, but he might have been a member of the Dallas Mavericks had it not been for Mavs owner Mark Cuban.
In July, Williams signed a five-year, $98.7 million deal to remain with the Nets, but prior to signing on the dotted line, the 28-year-old free agent met with the Mavs to discuss playing for his hometown team.
Williams and his management team had a recruiting meeting with Mavs president Donnie Nelson and head coach Rick Carlisle, but Cuban was nowhere to be found.
Cuban was unable to attend the meeting because he was in Los Angeles shooting an episode of Shark Tank, a reality TV show Cuban stars in, and Williams said that was a factor in his decision not to sign with the Mavs.
“A lot of the questions that me and my agent had for them really didn’t get answered that day — you know, pertaining to the future. And I think if he was there, he would have been able to answer those questions a little bit better,” Williams told reporters at the PNY Center after practice Monday. “Maybe would have helped me (make my decision).”
Cuban said he was a bit surprised by what Williams had to say, and in an email to the New York Times said: “I’m even more surprised that he didn’t say something to the effect of, ‘I am so excited about what the Nets did this summer. It wouldn’t have mattered what Cuban did.'”
“I wish D-Will nothing but the best, but as I’ve said many times, I’m thrilled with the way things turned out for the Mavs this summer,” Cuban added.
Williams was drafted third overall by the Utah Jazz in 2005 but was traded to the Nets in 2011. In 55 games last season he averaged 21 points, 8.7 assists and 3.3 rebounds per game.
