2:57 PM: Dallas has told Williams that the team will pay him the full remaining amount of his $9MM salary if he would like to become a free agent, Marc Stein of ESPN.com reports (Twitter link).
2:37 PM: The Mavericks are working with Deron Williams to come to an agreement on a buyout, according to Shams Charania of The Vertical (Twitter link). The scribe adds that the Cavs, Jazz, and Hawks expressed interest in the point guard via trade. There would presumably be more teams interested in him should he hit the open market.
Williams sat out practice over the last two days with what coach Rick Carlisle is calling a “pending situation,” Tim MacMahon of ESPN.com reports (Twitter links). Williams is making $9MM this season after signing a one-year deal to return the Mavs during the offseason.
Dallas will be thin at the point guard position if it cuts ties with Williams. J.J. Barea remains out with a calf injury and he’s expected to miss at least three more contests. MacMahon (Twitter link) notes that the team could look to add a player via another 10-day deal.
The ESPN scribe adds that the team is preparing to give its top point guard spot to rookie Yogi Ferrell. Ferrell got his chance in Dallas after signing a 10-day contract earlier this season. He thrived in the starting role and helped the team get back into the playoff picture, as the Mavs sit just three games behind the Nuggets in the Western Conference’s eighth seed race.
Pierre Jackson is a player to keep an eye on later in the season, though that’s merely my speculation. Jackson was playing well for Dallas before straining his hamstring, an event that led the team to sign Ferrell. The injury was nearly a month ago and if Jackson is healthy enough to play, he could be a candidate to come to the team. However, it’s worth noting that a deal would have to be for the remainder of the season since Dallas already signed him to two 10-day deals.
Cavs should be all over him when he gets waived
Why not just keep him? He’s been valuable when healthy and his contract expires after the season. They’re just going to let him go for nothing when the Jazz and Cavs were reportedly both willing to give at least a 2nd rounder. Doesn’t make sense.
I’m guessing they might buy him out to allow him a chance to chase a ring this season. This would also allow them to star yogi full time and play with Barnes and Noel.
He’ll only get 10-15 minutes per game off the bench as they want to know what Yogi is capable of in a larger sample size. The Mavs absolutely cherish their reputation of how they treat their players and would rather let him make his own choice of how/where to finish the season.
The Mavs know they are bad at drafting, so perhaps, it matters more for them to just let Deron pick his own team to go to than a 2nd round pick they’ll never see in the NBA.
By far one of the dumbest moves. You lose money, you gain nothing and you help out a contender. At least get something in return or pay him to mentor younglings.
To the Cavs done deal!
I mean for Dallas fans it sucks cause he is a hometown guy but they aren’t doing wrong by giving yogi a chance to prove he was worth the contract and also a sign they’re waving the white flag on the season, and will most likely lose games not having him in the lineup resulting in a better draft spot.
The Yogi contract is only guaranteed to the end of the season, next year is a team option. So the team is doing its due diligence to see if they need to find a starting point guard in the offseason or if they already have him.
My point they need to see if he’s worth it.
Well the difference between what you said and what I said is that you’re saying they need to see if he’s worth the contract, which is really just to the end of the year, while I’m saying they need to see if he’s worth the team option.
Also, letting Deron go shows very little in the way of waving a white flag on the rest of the season. In his 14 games between January and February, D-Will hasn’t been much better than Yogi as a Mav. Plus, the Mavs best win streak came with Yogi running the show. And Noel is an upgrade over Bogut.
Come to the sixers it would be great we could use a veteran now that ersan was traded
He wants a ring, most likely, probably no chance he signs there.
Warrriors! lmao
Why didn’t they just trade him? Seems dumb.
They probably wanted to, but his contract makes it an issue. The Cavs, for example, would’ve had to send salary out to make the deal work.