Deron Williams has moved on from his ugly divorce with the Brooklyn Nets, moved into a healthier and happier honeymoon with his hometown Dallas Mavericks. He is enjoying the game again, something he nearly forgot was possible during a failed run with the Nets in which he was unable to carry an organization on a pair of brittle ankles and shattered confidence.

Leaning back to have bags of ice wrapped around both knees after a recent morning shootaround, Williams reluctantly reflected on a place he couldn't wait to escape – even if it meant leaving millions on the table.

"It took a lot out of me, man, those three years. Some of the hardest in my life," Williams told Yahoo Sports of his time in Brooklyn. "Made me question if I even wanted to play basketball when I was done with that contract."

The pressures that Williams put upon himself, and the ones that were thrust upon him to be a franchise player in the league's most unforgiving market have been swapped for peace of mind. It’s now a situation in which his only task is running a team and the reward is regular visits from family and friends who knew him as a kid from The Colony, Texas, long before basketball ever felt like business. Before it could cause any misery.

As he prepares for his first game back at Barclays Center on Wednesday, Williams isn't upset by the prevailing sentiment that he was unable to handle playing in New York.

"It’s cool. There’s a lot of people, I guess, who aren’t built for New York," Williams told Yahoo. "New York is not for everybody."

Williams and the Nets were both ready to be free of one another by the time they agreed to a buyout agreement last July. So desperate for a star, the Nets – and their flamboyant, billionaire owner Mikhail Prohkorov – went all-in on Williams with the belief that he would eventually play the lead role on a championship team.

The Nets sacrificed valuable draft picks to acquire and appease Williams, invested in exorbitant contracts on past-their-prime legends and had nine-figure luxury tax payments before finally writing Williams a $27.5 million check to go away. Williams was unable to live up to his end of the bargain because of a body that regularly betrayed him and a sour attitude that made the relationship untenable.

The comforts of home and the absence of the nightly scrutiny and blame have been liberating for Williams. His production is similar to the past few years in Brooklyn, but those numbers are tolerable as part of an ensemble as opposed to a leading performer. And, Williams has been exactly what the Mavericks had hoped, managing to stay relatively healthy for a team that has been better than expected in the always tough Western Conference.

"It’s been great. To be a part of this organization. The team has been great. Being home in Dallas, it’s been great for myself and my family. I'm definitely enjoying it," Williams told Yahoo. "I enjoy playing with these guys. It’s a great group. It reminds me of my teams in Utah the first couple of years where we like being around each other. We do a lot of stuff off the court together. Like a college atmosphere. It’s loose. It’s fun. I have the ball in my hands a lot more. I have a better rhythm here. Those things all contribute to better confidence out there."

View photos Williams is happy to be part of the Mavs' ensemble cast. (AP) More

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