Jazz punish staffer for tweet about Deron Williams, Nets

Mark Cuban does not own the Utah Jazz. If he did, this might not be an issue.

An unnamed Jazz employee tweeted a very mild insult about the Brooklyn Nets and point guard Deron Williams, who spent 5½ seasons in Salt Lake City, on Thursday after the team fired coach Avery Johnson. That employee has been punished, the Deseret News of Salt Lake City reported.

"Yesterday, a member of the Utah Jazz staff posted an inappropriate Tweet to the official Jazz account. This employee no longer has login access to the Jazz Twitter account and further disciplinary action is being taken internally," the team said in a statement. "The Jazz does not comment on other NBA teams transactions and furthermore, does not condone any negative comments about any players, coaches, or front office staff throughout the league. It is simply unprofessional and unacceptable."

The tweet in question, captured by @NetsTakeOver, said, "#PhilJackson won't go to Brooklyn. He'll only go somewhere he can win a title. Not interested in good players, he wants great players. #NBA"

Now, the reasonable inference here is Williams, the supposed star of the Nets, is not a great player. But Williams has slumped all season, so that doesn't seem like much of a stretch.

The bigger question we have is where this random Jazz staffer is getting inside information on Jackson's desires. It may seem like a logical point, but these things often operate outside the bounds of logic.

Either way, we're guessing Cuban, the Dallas Mavericks owner with a running feud with Nets owner Mikhail Prokhorov, would have laughed this one off. No harm, no foul.

Prokhorov? He's been heli-skiing in British Columbia. Because he's a James Bond villain.

H/T Sports Illustrated for the story tip