4. February 23rd, 2011: Nets acquire Deron Williams for Devin Harris, Derick Favors and two first-round draft picks
Deron Williams’ lackluster first half in Brooklyn makes it easy to forget just how excited Nets fans were when Billy King got the All-Star point guard from Utah at the trade deadline in 2011, or that fans were even more ecstatic when D-Will signed his name on Billy’s iPad last summer to lock up a franchise star for the team’s move to Brooklyn.
It doesn’t help matters that the player the Nets were initially targeting that season, Carmelo Anthony, is having an MVP-caliber season across the East River. King kept his cool when the Nets missed out on the MeloDrama that enshrouded the 2010-11 season and nabbed Williams, who virtually no one knew was available. Knicks former President of Basketball Operations Donnie Walsh has even intimated that he may have traded for D-Will over Melo if he had known Deron was available.
It’s too early to call this trade a total success. It remains to be seen if D-Will can return to his Utah form, which used to land him in the middle of the “best PG in the league” debate. As far as the players traded to get D-Will, Devin Harris is a nice piece, but not a star. He has since been traded from Utah to Atlanta. Derrick Favors and Enes Kanter, who the Jazz took with the third overall pick in the 2011 Draft, are still blue-chip prospects but relatively unknown commodities. With the Golden State Warriors poised to make the playoffs, the final pick in the deal looks like it will be a mid to late first round pick in the 2013 draft.
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