Deron Williams is ready for free agency, but he hasn't ruled out remaining with the Nets.

“People get traded all the time,” Williams told Yahoo! Sports. “They don’t get backlash as an organization. If [players] leave, we are not loyal, we are ungrateful. People say stuff to me on Twitter. They already think I’m gone. They are out there bashing me, saying to me I’m a traitor.

“I didn’t ask to be here. I got traded. I didn’t come here being a free agent. This is the first time that I’m a free agent in my career.”

Williams says he "probably" would have re-signed with the Nets if they had acquired Dwight Howard.

“It’s a decision he made for himself,” Williams said. “I really have no comment on it. He did what was best for him. I respect that. I’m still friends with him.

“Oh yeah, it definitely would have changed things. I’ve already made it known that if he would have come I probably would have stayed.”

The Nets have given Williams significant influence over the roster.

“He’s been involved in the process since December,” Billy King said. “We talked about, ‘This is Plan A and this is Plan B and C.’

“In training camp he was in my office after practice every day just sitting there. He calls himself, ‘the assistant GM.’ “