Brooklyn Nets point guard Deron Williams revealed Monday that Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban played a pivotal role in his decision to re-sign with the Nets.
According to Stefan Bondy of the New York Daily News, Cuban's absence from his free-agent meeting in July helped clinch his decision to deny the Mavericks offer and re-sign with the Nets. Cuban was reportedly in California at the time taping an episode of "Shark Tank."
"Of course (Cuban's absence had an effect)," Williams said. "My top four when I was coming out of high school was Illinois, Georgia Tech, Tennessee and Maryland.
"Maryland told me they wanted me to come on a visit but Gary Williams wouldn't be there. So I told them, 'It's okay. I'd rather not go.' So that was that. It's similar."
Williams met with Mavs coach Rick Carlise and GM Donnie Nelson in New York, but said that a lot of questions still went unanswered. During that time, the Nets were updating Williams on their plans, before reaching a deal for Joe Johnson and revealing the news to Williams hours after he met with Dallas.
A month before meeting with Mavs representatives, Williams flew to Turkey and Russia for a vacation and spoke with Nets owner Mikhail Prokhorov.
"I think (Cuban) would have been able to answer a lot of the questions me and my agent have for him that really didn't get answered that day pertaining to the future," Williams said. "And I think if he was there he would have been able to answer those questions a little bit better. It maybe would have helped me.
"(I wanted to hear about) the direction of the future of the team, other than Dirk -- players they were thinking about. Everything was basically just about their track record, trust their track record, which is, you know, I can honor that, because they do have a good track record, but it's not enough for me, especially when (Nets GM) Billy (King) was updating me daily."
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