During one of their conversations in the summer before free agency began, Brooklyn Nets point guard Deron Williams told general manager Billy King not to wait and see if he could try to acquire Dwight Howard.
"One thing Deron did say to me, he said, 'Please, just don't wait on Dwight. We can't wait and not have a team,'" King said during the premiere of NBA TV's "The Association: Brooklyn Nets," which will air on Oct. 16.
"The team of Brooklyn is bigger than one person. I owed it to the organization, I owed it to our fans, I owed it to Deron and the players that we have to build for Brooklyn, and we went forward and built our team."
King was relentless in his pursuit of Howard, at one point offering center Brook Lopez, power forward Kris Humphries, shooting guard MarShon Brooks and four first-round picks to the Orlando Magic for the franchise player.
The Magic rejected the offer and ultimately dealt their big man to the Los Angeles Lakers in a blockbuster trade.
King, in a $330 million roster overhaul, brought in nine new players -- highlighted by his acquisition of shooting guard Joe Johnson -- while retaining Williams, Lopez, Humphries and small forward Gerald Wallace.
Mike Mazzeo is a regular contributor to ESPNNewYork.com.
