Deron Williams Trade Rumors: Would Kings be a Fit?
The latest Deron Williams trade rumors (courtesy of Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports) have the Brooklyn Nets and Sacramento Kings talking about a deal that would send Williams to Sacramento in a package that would also include Darren Collison, Derrick Williams and Jason Thompson. Would Williams be a good fit on the Kings?
Williams appears to be relatively healthy this season, though his numbers haven’t been impressive — averaging 15.6 points, 6.8 assists and 1.1 steals with a shooting line of .403/.382/.880. He’d be leaving a Nets team that is one of the slowest in the entire league (26th in pace) and would be heading to a Kings squad that wants to lead the league in pace.
The three-time All-Star has been a prolific scorer and passer in his younger days, but in his best years, he played on teams with the league’s 19th, 24th and 23rd-ranked pace. Simply put, Williams hasn’t shown that he can thrive in uptempo offenses (even back in his prime), so why would we expect him to do so at this point?
This could be an example of an owner pushing his general manager to make a big splash by acquiring a big name. Williams is a big name, but he’s a solid four years out of being relevant as an elite point guard in the NBA. We haven’t been able to compare Williams to Chris Paul without a big grin on our face since 2011-12 and even then, we were basing it off of Williams’ past.
In order for this deal to go through, there’s a major sticking point — Mason Plumlee. It appears as if the Nets are all for letting Williams go and they’d be happy to receive the package of Collison/Williams/Thompson, but they’re dragging their feet on letting Plumlee go, because of Brook Lopez and his history of injury.
Even though Plumlee would be a nice catch and could be a great backup to DeMarcus Cousins, it still doesn’t address the issue of bringing in an ill-fitting point guard with two years and more than $43 million dollars left on his contract.
Should the Kings pull the trigger anyways and attempt to make a big splash? Absolutely not. It feels like a desperation move, where the Kings simply want to show their fanbase that they’re serious about winning. It would be another poorly timed move, like the firing of Mike Malone was.
I think the fans understand that the Kings are already moving in the right direction. The team’s 9-5 start showed them as much. But, we’re talking about playing in a brutal Western Conference, where the top 10 teams are all dangerous. If the Kings truly want to compete, they’re going to have to build a solid team — that takes time. Acquiring Williams wouldn’t accelerate that process, it would hinder it. He’s a bad fit for the offense they want to run and he comes at a high price.
My advice? Wait for the offseason. There are some quality point guards on the market that can come at a much more inexpensive price and the Kings are very familiar with one of them — wouldn’t Phoenix Suns point guard Goran Dragic fit well on an uptempo team with a great center and a terrific wing in Rudy Gay?