NBA

Cuban: Deron threw Nets front office ‘under the bus’

When Deron Williams said Monday Mark Cuban’s absence from his meeting with Dallas in July impacted his decision to re-sign with the Nets, it was only a matter of time before Cuban responded.

That time was yesterday, when the Mavericks owner addressed Williams’ comments while meeting with reporters in Barcelona, Spain, ahead of the Mavericks’ game there against FC Barcelona Regal.

“I’m a big D-Will fan, but I’m kind of surprised that he would throw his front office under the bus like that by saying that I would make a difference,’’ Cuban said, according to the Dallas Morning News. “I would have expected him to say — like I’d expect one of our guys to say — ‘Hey I’m so thrilled with the front office and the moves we made and our team that it wouldn’t have mattered what he did.’

“That’s what I expect our guys to say and that’s the way I feel about our team. Again, I’m a big D-Will fan, but it’s not about individual players, it’s about building a team. And I really think we put together a good team for the current team and the future.”

Though Cuban used the comments from Williams to poke fun at the Nets, it’s clear Williams is quite happy with the Nets’ offseason.

In fact, Williams went out of his way to praise Nets general manager Billy King during that same interview Monday. Though he said the theme coming from Mavericks president of basketball operations Donnie Nelson and head coach Rick Carlisle was to “trust our track record,” Williams compared that to King communicating with Williams on a daily basis on what the Nets were doing to try to improve the roster.

Williams said he had questions Cuban could have answered. Cuban didn’t come to New York for the meeting because he was in Los Angeles filming “Shark Tank,” his reality television show.

Cuban said in a radio interview in August he felt the team might be better off down the road for not signing Williams because of the salary cap flexibility the Mavs still have, and he stuck to that script yesterday.

“He’s a superstar point guard, but my goal is to build a team,” Cuban said. “That’s the important thing, to try to win championships.’’

“I’m flattered that he thought my presence would have made more of a difference than what the Nets’ management did.’’

Williams also is in the news because he’s on the cover of this week’s Sports Illustrated. The cover is a picture of Williams in the home Brooklyn Nets jersey in front of a mural that has depictions of Jackie Robinson, Julius Erving, Jay-Z and streetball legend Fly Williams, with the Brooklyn Bridge in the background.