On the same day he was waived by the Nets, forward Shawne Williams turned himself into authorities yesterday and was booked into Shelby County Jail in Memphis. He was indicted by a Shelby County grand jury on Tuesday on eight drug charges.
Williams was traded to the Nets on Monday with Kris Humphries in exchange for Eduardo Najera, but brass weren't impressed with what they saw. After Williams told them he needed to return home for an emergency, they announced he had been waived yesterday at 2:54 p.m. He was booked 22 minutes later.
"Bottom line, we brought him in to take a look at him, and he was way out of shape and we didn't really like what we saw," GM and interim coach Kiki Vandeweghe said. "He said he had to go home for some type of medical emergency. We waived him and then all this other stuff came down."
Williams was indicted on four counts of possession of a controlled substance with intent to manufacture/deliver/sell, and four counts of conspiracy to manufacture/deliver/sell a controlled substance — a codeine-based syrup, according to the Shelby County District Attorney's office.
Both of the charges are considered Class E felonies and carry standard sentences of 1-2 years, as if being dumped by the worst team in the NBA wasn't bad enough. His bond was set at $16,000 and his case is assigned to Criminal Court Division 10, but no arraignment date has been scheduled.