NBA History: 25 former NBA stars you forgot dominated the league 

11) Deron Williams

It might seem hard to believe but there was a stretch of approximately six years where NBA fans debated who was the better point guard between Deron Williams and Chris Paul. In fact, Williams was considered better by a fairly significant number of NBA fans. Of course, Paul is headed for the Hall of Fame while Williams' career flamed out. Williams spent the first six seasons of his career in Utah, helping turn the Jazz around after the John Stockton and Karl Malone era ended.

In just his second season, Williams helped lead the Jazz to the Western Conference Finals, where they went toe-to-toe with the eventual champion San Antonio Spurs. That proved to be the highlight of his time there, though he did average more than 18.5 and 10 assists over his final three full seasons as a Jazz. Williams developed a reputation as a diva and was blamed for long-time head coach Jerry Sloan abruptly retiring.

When it became clear that Williams was unlikely to re-sign, they made a surprise move by dealing him to the New Jersey Nets at the trade deadline. That deal was expected to give the Nets a star that would usher in their new era when they eventually moved to Brooklyn and help draw free agents like LeBron James. Not so much.

Williams had two good seasons in New Jersey/Brooklyn before steadily declining beginning in his late twenties and going from being a star to being simply a starting point guard by his age 30 season. He had stops in Dallas and Cleveland before retiring in his early 30s, a surprising end for a player that was once favorably compared to the Point God Chris Paul.