"I went to a team that was bottom of the barrel" - Deron Williams reflects on the jarring transition from contender to rebuild
For a time, Deron Williams was considered the cream of the crop when it came to NBA point guards. An All-Star, All-NBA team member and a bona fide contender for the Most Valuable Player trophy in his first six seasons in the league, D-Will was undoubtedly on a trajectory of greatness.
Unfortunately, his fast-rising star was shot down when he was traded to the lowly Brooklyn Nets (New Jersey Nets at the time) in February 2011. It was a stark contrast from playing for one of the top teams in the Western Conference to joining a team that was scraping the bottom of the barrel of the Eastern Conference.
In a talk with Zach Randolph and Tony Allen on "Out The Mud," the former Illinois standout recalled how shocked he was upon learning he was changing addresses, which impacted not only his hoop career but also his family life.
D-Will first learned about the trade on TV
Trades are a substantial part of the NBA experience. Nearly every player in the league has gone through the process of being traded at least once in their career. However, for D-Will, his trade to the Nets was absolutely unexpected. By his sixth season, the crafty 6'3" guard was already the man in Utah, tasked with doing it all for the Jazz .
So when asked whether he ever thought he would be traded midway through the 2010-11 season, he had an emphatic answer.
"F—k no!" Williams stated . "I was in Dallas getting ready to play. I had a suite. I had all my family and friends coming to the game."
"So I'm in the training room at the hotel in Dallas, getting taped. The TV is right there. I'm sitting there, and it pops up: Breaking news: Deron Williams traded to the Nets," he continued. "I didn't even see it at first. Somebody said, 'D-Will, is that true?' I looked and said, 'Shit, I don't know!'"
Puzzled by the development and how the media got a hold of the news before he did, Williams quickly called his agent to confirm the trade. However, his agent didn't know as well and vowed to contact the team's general manager to gather more information.
"He called Kevin O'Connor and called me back about five minutes later. 'Yeah, they traded you,'" Williams recalled.
Deron shed more light on the trade, saying that the Nets were actually trying to acquire All-Star forward Carmelo Anthony . However, the New York Knicks beat them to it, forcing them to pivot to Deron.
"When the Melo deal didn't go through the way they expected, Kevin O'Connor basically told the Nets, 'Whatever y'all offered for Melo, we'll do that deal,'" Williams disclosed. "So the same package they had for Melo, they used for me. Just swapped it. That's how I found out."
Related: Larry Bird named his favorite modern NBA superstar: "He goes all out all the time"
The impact on his professional and personal life
While hoop fans and analysts generally discuss trades like they do fantasy football, it's important to remember that these transactions have real-life implications for the players involved. For Williams, being traded from the Jazz to the Nets had a significant impact on both his professional and personal life.
"That's the tough part of the NBA that people don't really understand. My wife at the time — my ex-wife now — she was seven months pregnant with my youngest. So I had to leave. Came back for the birth. Then left again and didn't see him for a couple months. That was tough," Williams shared.
Additionally, moving to the Nets meant dealing with a lot of losing. His first season there saw the team finish with a 24-58 record. His second? They had a 22-44 mark.
"I went to a team that was bottom of the barrel. We weren't good. That was my first time ever being on a losing team," D-Will surmised.
Although he still played meaningful basketball, even making the NBA Finals in his final season with the Cleveland Cavaliers , Williams wasn't able to reach the heights he did as a young star in Utah.
This story was originally published by Basketball Network on Mar 3, 2026, where it first appeared in the Latest News section. Add Basketball Network as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
