Deron Williams reopens an old wound as he discusses jazz’s infamous history

The Utah Jazz have had their fair share of painful memories. Chief among them was the infamous Jerry Sloan-Deron Williams fallout in 2011. While many have wondered what exactly happened that led to both leaving the Jazz within a week of each other, Williams recently gave his side of the story, reopening a painful Jazz memory.

Yesterday Williams appeared on “Out of the mud”, where he delved into what happened between him and Sloan that ultimately led to the Jazz coach’s immediate firing.

Even with the success they had together, it was widely publicized that Williams and Sloan never got along. It seemed clear that one had to go, but it shocked everyone when it turned out that the Jazz lost both when the dust settled.

For the record, Williams’ story has been known for a while. Notorious Jazz talent Gordon Hayward was a rookie that season and he had a pretty clear memory of what happened, but when he shared what he remembered a few years ago, his memory wasn’t exactly the same as Williams’.

The Jazz were on a downward trend. Their original core around Williams (Carlos Boozer, Mehmet Okur, Andrei Kirilenko) was either gone or starting to show its age, although Paul Millsap only got better with a bigger role. Still, it’s hard to look back and realize that the worst-case scenario happened.

At least Deron Williams made amends with Sloan & the Jazz

Williams didn’t leave Utah on the best terms, and the vitriol from the Jazz fan base let him know that every time he returned to Great Salt Lake. Time heals all wounds, though, so to be fair, after his playing days were over, the former Jazz star mended some fences to the point that some are wondering if Williams should have his number retired in Utah.

That’s a whole other discussion, but all things considered, Williams did his best to talk about life in Utah. Better yet, when it was said and done, him and Sloan buried the hatchet not long after their fight.

But this all still comes down to one simple question when it comes to the fallout from D-Will & Sloan: Why did it have to end like this? It really shouldn’t have been that way, as it set the Jazz back for a while as even when things improved with the stars that came after Williams, like Hayward, Rudy Gobert and Donovan Mitchell, they never quite got Utah back to the same level as Williams.

The Jazz have moved on and there is no longer any animosity toward D-Will, but that doesn’t make this kind of Jazz history any easier to look back on.