Visitors to the Nets’ website yesterday were greeted with a picture of Deron Williams and Dwight Howard.
The image of the two superstars was being used to promote tonight’s game, the only time the Magic will play at Prudential Center this season and the Nets’ final game before the All-Star break.
But the Nets hope it won’t be long before the two of them, who will play together this weekend for the Eastern Conference in the All-Star Game in Orlando, are playing together for the Nets. The pair would form arguably the best inside-outside combination in the NBA, and give the franchise a dynamic pair of stars to take the franchise across the Hudson to Brooklyn next season.
“It’ll be interesting to see how the fans are going to react,” Williams said after Monday’s 100-92 win over the Knicks at the Garden. “It should be pretty crazy. … I kind of look forward to the game.
“I like playing against him. It should be fun.”
It has been an open secret for months that Howard would like to play with Williams and for the Nets. Before the lockout-shortened season began, Orlando gave Howard’s agent, Dan Fegan, permission to speak with the Nets, Mavericks and Lakers about a potential trade.
Even if there isn’t a trade, they could hook up through free agency this summer. Both Howard and Williams can opt out of the final years of their contracts this summer and become unrestricted free agents, and the Nets are expected to have enough salary cap room to sign both of them.
If they choose to leave their current teams as free agents, however, they would leave an extra year and roughly $25 million to $30 million dollars on the table.
Meanwhile, the Nets have struggled to a 10-24 record, despite Williams playing at an All-Star level, as he showed in Monday’s win over the Knicks. His 38-point barrage against Jeremy Lin and the Knicks single-handedly carried the Nets to victory.
“We still need to get some guys in here if we’re going to be a better team,” said Williams, averaging 22.2 points and 8.2 assists. “There’s no doubt about that. We’re 10-24 right now, so we have to get some better players.
“But I think everything will work out. … It takes some time to put it together.”
Any plans for a Howard trade to the Nets, however, appeared to take a serious blow when Brook Lopez was diagnosed with a stress fracture in the fifth metatarsal of his right foot following the Nets’ second preseason game against the Knicks on Dec. 21.
But after having surgery to repair it two days later, the Nets originally set a six-to-eight-week timetable for Lopez’s recovery from the injury, and it took just over eight weeks for him to return for Sunday’s 92-85 loss, in which he scored nine points and played 22 minutes.
The Nets gave Lopez Monday’s game off as a precaution, despite Lopez’s best efforts to convince his coach, Avery Johnson, otherwise. But he can’t be expected to be in midseason form tonight when he’ll go up against Howard, the league’s most dominant inside presence.
“He’s going to need some time to get back acclimated,” Williams said. “You don’t really miss [two] months and just come out and average 20 [points] and 10 [rebounds]. He’s going to work back in slow, he’s got to get his touch back, get his legs under him.
“I think anytime you miss time with an injury … you don’t want to put pressure on the leg, [and] you’re thinking about it, so it’ll take a little bit of time. We’re just happy to have him back, and going forward, because we’re going to need him if we want to make a push at getting to the playoffs.”
The Nets suffered their latest injury setback yesterday when the team announced forward Shawne Williams will undergo surgery today to remove a bone fragment from his left foot. The surgery will be performed at Manhattan’s Hospital for Special Surgery. The Nets said they would place a timetable on Williams’ recovery after the surgery.
Williams had missed the last five games with left shoulder and foot injuries. The left foot issue was a pre-existing one he aggravated earlier this season, and overcompensating for it led to a case of shin splints in his right leg.
Williams has played in 25 games this season, averaging 4.5 points and 2.7 rebounds in 20.6 minutes per game, after signing with the Nets as a free agent following the lockout.