Los Angeles Clippers guard Mo Williams started his career with the Utah Jazz in 2003. His agent, Mark Bartelstein, represents four members of the Jazz and has a years-long good working relationship with the team. The Jazz badly need backcourt scoring, but they don't want to break the bank for long term deals, and Williams' contract runs out in 2013. A deal that would send Williams to Utah, as tossed out on Thursday by ESPN's Marc Stein , would aid the Dallas Mavericks in lopping a needed $2.4 million off its salary cap books this summer, and give Lamar Odom a second chance as a Los Angeles Clipper in a three-team trade. So why would there be any obstacle in sending Williams to the Jazz on Thursday's draft night, with the deadline to decline Odom's 2012-13 option in Dallas looming on Friday? It's because Williams has the option to opt out of his contract next year, turning down a guaranteed $8.5 million in order to take on a longer and more secure contract, at age 29, even if it means making less than $8.5 million in the first year of his new deal. It's a smart maneuver, at his age. Still, I think Williams can have his cake and eat it too, here. Especially if he warms to the idea of playing in a small backcourt in Utah alongside Devin Harris, on a Jazz team that gave up worrying about defense a long time ago.

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