Deron Williams’ first season with the Dallas Mavericks has officially ended in the most Deron Williams way possible.
Mavs head coach Rick Carlisle confirmed on Sunday that Williams is out for the remainder of the playoffs with a sports hernia injury, per Earl K. Sneed of Mavs.com.
Rick Carlisle says Deron Williams (sports hernia) is done for the season and won't travel for Game 5.
— Earl K. Sneed (@EarlKSneed) April 24, 2016
The hernia had been bothering Williams since the end of the regular season, and limited him to just 49 largely ineffective minutes over three games in the Mavs’ first-round series against the Oklahoma City Thunder.
With the Mavericks looking largely overmatched and currently trailing OKC three games to one in the series, Williams’ absence may not make all that much of a difference. But nevertheless, it’s a disappointing end to the year for a player who had rehabilitated his value in a big way this season.
Williams, 31, reinvented himself into a lower-usage, higher-efficiency player in Dallas in 2015-16, posting averages of 14.1 points per game, 2.9 rebounds per game, and 5.8 assists per game. He holds a $5.62 million player option for the 2016-17 season, and it seems likely that he will pick it up given how these nagging injury concerns might scare off other suitors on the market.
Image Credit: Jerome Miron-USA TODAY Sports
H/T Rotoworld
