In what may be a common occurrence this summer and fall, New Jersey Nets star Deron Williams has agreed to terms with Besiktas in Turkey if the NBA lockout carries over into the regular season.
Besiktas is the same Turkish team that former NBA star Allen Iverson played for.
The Deron Williams potential move to Turkey could be a risky one. He is set to make $34 million dollars over the next two seasons with New Jersey before becoming a free agent in 2013. (He also has a player option that could allow him to jump from the Nets in the summer of 2012 and opt out of the $17.8 million New Jersey owes him). However if he were to become injured while playing with Besiktas or any other international team for that matter, New Jersey would be off the hook for the remainder of his contract.
This could potentially mean that either Besiktas or Williams will need to secure an outside insurance policy to protect him.
Now the contract that Besiktas is offering Williams will be nothing close to what New Jersey is forking over. And despite possibly ticking off their (Besiktas) governing body FIBA and the NBA there will be an out clause in Williams’ contract if the NBA were to resume operations.
Here is an excerpt from the New York Daily News…
The signing was first reported by a Turkish TV station. The contract would pay the Nets star on a monthly basis.
The team, Besiktas, also signed Allen Iverson to a two-year, $4 million deal in October of last year.
“We are in talks with Williams. He is a bigger star than Iverson and would be the best player in Europe. We are close to an agreement,” the coach of Besiktas told Turkish TV.
Williams has an out clause in the event the NBA kicks off on time in late October, according to the Turkish TV report. Earlier this week, Dallas’ Rudy Fernandez considered playing in Spain, but decided not to go overseas, at this point.
Williams will reportedly be paid $200,000 dollars on a monthly basis. According to Yahoo Sports over the course of an entire calender year this would be less than half of the NBA’s average salary.
Now as far as Bisiktas potentially ticking off FIBA and the NBA, that stems from FIBA’s dependence on NBA influence to exhibition events and professional participants in international events to make a large portion of its revenue. Historically FIBA doesn’t encourage its teams to sign players currently under contract with an NBA team during a work stoppage.
Despite all that, what Besiktas is doing is completely legal since it’s Williams who is currently locked out of his job.
Kobe to Bisiktas as well?
Once again, according to Yahoo Sports, after agreeing to terms with Deron Williams, Besiktas head coach Ergin Ataman says that the teams next target is Lakers superstar Kobe Bryant.
Bryant is reportedly open to overseas offers for the duration of the NBA lockout.
Atman will travel to the United States with other Besiktas officials to announce the signing of Williams. During their time in the United State, the Besiktas groups would also like to arrange a meeting with Bryant and his agent Rob Pelinka.
“After we signed Deron, we started to look around and find a friend of his, find other NBA stars, who want to come over and play with us,” Ataman told Yahoo! Sports. “If Kobe wants to play with Deron in Istanbul, we can discuss this.”
Yahoo Sports says that Bryant stands to lose his $25.2 million salary if the NBA’s lockout wipes out the 2011-12 season. It is also yet to be seen whether or not Besiktas could come up with something that is going to spark Bryant’s interest.
Source: Yahoo Sports
