Deron Williams ready to test free agency despite ‘assistant GM’ status with Nets

New Jersey Nets GM Billy King acknowledges that the organization has given Deron Williams input in personnel decisions, but that may not be enough to convince the star point guard to resign with the team as a free agent this summer.

“He’s been involved in the process since December,” King told Yahoo! Sports. “We talked about, ‘This is Plan A and this is Plan B and C.’

“In training camp he was in my office after practice every day just sitting there. He calls himself, ‘the assistant GM.’”

But Williams says he’s looking forward to testing the free agency waters for the first time in his career, and while some factors weigh in the Nets' favor, he’ll likely head elsewhere unless the team improves its roster.

“I want to win. At the end of the day, I’m not getting any younger,” Williams told Yahoo! “I’ll be 28 when I sign this next deal. I have to look for the best situation for me.”

Had the Nets been able to acquire Dwight Howard at the trade deadline, there’s a good chance Williams would have signed a long-term deal with the team.

“Oh yeah, it definitely would have changed things,” Williams told the site. “I’ve already made it known that if he would have come I probably would have stayed.”

Many around the league believe his hometown Dallas Mavericks are Williams’ most probable landing spot.

“No pressure. They know it’s my decision,” Williams said of Mavs fans. “People know how I am so they’re not going to say anything to me. They’d definitely love for me to play (in Dallas). I know that. I’ve known that my whole career. The fans on Twitter, a lot of Dallas fans on Twitter, tell me to come back home. We’ll see.”

For the Nets, the pressure is on. They move into a sparkling new arena in Brooklyn this summer and need a roster that can win and one they can market. There is some talent on the roster—Brook Lopez, rookie Marshon Brooks and Gerald Wallace, who was acquired in a deadline-day deal with Portland. They’d also get to keep the 2012 first-round pick they traded to the Trail Blazers for Wallace if it is in the top three. Whether all this is enough to keep Williams in the fold is an issue that will captivate the NBA universe this summer.