It’s been a year of changes for Deron Williams. He had a baby girl, he got traded from the Jazz to the Nets, he had wrist surgery; it was a whirlwind year. And now another change has come. Williams has signed with a new agent, Jeff Schwartz. It’s almost as big of a deal for who he didn’t sign with as who he did.
Williams was rumored to be leaning towards Leon Rose. You know, that Leon Rose, part architect of The Decision, CAA representative, member of that shadowy collective that everyone hates that includes the Miami Big 3. Williams being under CAA threatened to resurrect nightmares of the 2010 free agency period with both Williams and Chris Paul under their belt.
Instead, Williams has chosen Schwartz, who already has a diverse and intriguing collection of clients, including Blake Griffin, Paul Pierce, Tyson Chandler, Lamar Odom, Kevin Love, Kemba Walker, and of course, Ricky Davis. But there’s one other star that raises an eyebrow in the selection of Schwartz: Jason Kidd. Kidd and Williams have grown tight through USA Basketball, where Kidd mentored Williams in tricks to become a veteran point guard. It’s also the third current or former Maverick in Schwartz’ stable.
After Game 4 of the Finals, a baseball-hat clad Deron Williams quietly slipped into the locker room while most of the media was preoccupied with the press conference room, and hugged and shook hands with various members of the Mavericks, spending the most time with Jason Kidd.
Now, before you go bonkers on how massively incomplete and rumor-monger-esque this seems, throttle down a bit. Williams is from Dallas, he lives in Dallas. Popping into a locker room to see an old friend during his Finals run is nothing of note. Not like he was hanging out with Cuban getting liquored up in advance of the 2012 free agency period a year away. Additionally, Schwartz also represents three current or former Timberwolves (Love, Al Jefferson, and Mike Beasley) and two Pistons (Chris Wilcox and Charlie Villanueva). And Williams sure isn’t winding up either one of those places. It’s just anecdotal information.
However, it is a coup for Schwartz, who will get the fun of soliciting offers in 2012 (presuming Williams opts out), with a great number of teams clearing space to make a run for him, including the team looking to sign him to an extension to avoid looking like complete idiots, the Nets.
