This isn’t the same Deron Williams that the Dallas Mavericks wanted a few years ago.

It’s been a long, hard three seasons for Williams since the Mavs lost a recruiting battle to the Brooklyn Nets for the rights to give him a max contract. That’s why he’s available now, as the Nets would rather pay Williams a whole lot of money to go away instead of the full $43.3 million left on the final two seasons of his deal.

The weight of his hometown team won’t be on Williams’ shoulders when he officially joins the Mavs, as it would have been a few years ago. Williams isn’t expected to be a franchise player at this point. Nor will he be paid like one.

In fact, the two-year, $10 million contract that ESPN’s Marc Stein reports that Williams intends to sign with the Mavs after clearing waivers would make his salary the lowest in Dallas’ starting lineup.

There aren’t huge expectations for Williams here. Rajon Rondo, another former All-Star the Mavs had much higher expectations for, set the bar for point guard performance pretty low around these parts. At least opponents will have to bother to guard Williams, even though he’s coming off a season in which he shot a career-low 38.7 percent from the floor.

There is a huge opportunity for Williams in Dallas. He’s only 31 years old, young enough to resuscitate his career, although it’s not reasonable to think he’ll reach the heights of being one of the league’s elite point guards again. He’ll have a small fraction of the pressure he struggled to deal with in Brooklyn.

Forget about all the responsibilities of being the face of the franchise. Dirk Nowitzki and Chandler Parsons are happy to handle those. Wesley Matthews seems more than comfortable in a spokesman role, too.

All the Mavs are asking of Williams is to be the chairman of a point guard committee with a very reasonable price tag.

In some respects, it’s a lot like the transition Josh Hamilton made when the Los Angeles Angels stuffed millions of dollars in his suitcase and shipped him back to the Texas Rangers, Williams’ favorite baseball team. A bust with a big contract can be a bargain with the same production and a much smaller paycheck.

Williams, a 10-year veteran, is coming off the worst season since his rookie year. He averaged 13 points and 6.6 assists for the Nets in 2014-15. He averaged 14.3 points and 6.1 assists the previous season, when injuries played a significant role in his steep decline.

Those kinds of numbers would be a massive upgrade at the position for the Mavs, considering their painful journey to find a point guard since Jason Kidd’s departure after the 2011-12 season.

Nobody expects Williams to be the star the Mavs hoped to get when they wooed him a few summers ago. But it's not asking much for him to be better than any of the starting point guards to play for Dallas since then.