This has been a big week for basketball at The New York Times. First the Old Gray Lady published Nate Silver’s blog post, which questioned the NBA’s claim of financial losses, and today Howard Beck confirmed the report that Nets point guard Deron Williams has signed with Istanbul’s Besiktas.

“We confirm,” coach Egin Ataman told the Times, when asked about the contract. Beck wrote that the “deal should become official in the next 24 hours and that Besiktas’ president, Seref Yalcin, would join Williams for a news conference in the United States next week.”

The deal provides Williams with an out, should the lockout end abruptly. Pete Thamel, who contributed to the report, Tweeted that the contract, “includes a driver, security guard and personal assistant available 24 hours a day.”

Yalcin famously signed Allen Iverson last season, but injuries prevented the former NBA star from making any real contribution to the team.

As most of you know by now, FIBA and the NBA won’t sign players that are currently under contract, but that doesn’t apply now since the owners have locked out the players in the United States.

Sweetening the story, Ataman said the team would sign Hawks center Zaza Pachulia and maybe make another addition.

“If there’s a possibility, we’ll talk with Kobe [Bryant] if he’d like to play in Europe with Deron and with the other guys to play we can talk to him,” Ataman told the Times. “If Kobe would like to play with us, we will also contact his agent and maybe with him.”

But maybe we’re getting a little ahead of ourselves. Williams’ agent Jeff Schwartz confirmed the story with ESPN’s Ric Bucher, but CBSsports.com’s Ken Berger is telling a different story.

According to an anonymous NBA agent, Williams and Bryant won’t see the Bosporus anytime soon.

“I don’t think he’s going overseas,” Berger’s source said. “The guys I work with in Turkey say there’s no chance this is happening.”

He has a point. Williams can make over $33 million over the next two seasons—or opt out of his current deal before 2012-2013—and stands to make much, much more in his next deal. The risk of injury is simply too great.

When asked if Bryant could join Besiktas, the agent reportedly responded with laughter.

It’s worth noting that Besiktas isn’t even the best team in Istanbul. Fenerbahçe Ülker has won the Turkish league four of the last five years and plays it’s games at the city’s premier basketball arena, the Sinan Erdem Dome (which holds around 16,000), while Besiktas’ home, the BJK Akatlar Arena, seats around 3,200 fans. There’s always some suspicion with European teams when it comes to their ability to fulfill large contracts and Besiktas is definitely raising some eyebrows right now.

Those same eyebrows will likely remain raised after Gilbert Arenas’ latest Tweet:

Details have yet to emerge on the subject, but this can’t be construed as a smart decision for Arenas. The Magic still owe him over $60 million, much of which would be in jeopardy if he were to get injured overseas—a big IF for someone with his knees. Obviously teams and players can take out insurance policies to protect themselves from that, but it’s hard to imagine any insurer—apart from AIG—who would be willing to take on that much risk.

Arenas definitely needs to stay active during the lockout, so his ravaged knees can get stronger, but putting himself through the rigors of a European season doesn’t seem like the antidote.

Jonas Valanciunas and the Under-19 FIBA World Championships

Forget the lawyers, foreign contracts, collective bargaining agreements and insurance stipulations for a moment. There is actual competitive basketball being played right now.

The Under-19 FIBA World Championships are underway in Latvia and while the United States (5-1) has the top seed heading into Friday’s quarterfinals against Russia, the story has undoubtedly been the play of Raptors lottery pick Jonas Valanciunas.

The center, who will likely join the Raptors for the 2012-2013 season after playing this year with Lietuvos Rytas, has led the tournament in scoring (20.7 PPG), blocks (3.5 BPG), rebounds (13.3 RPG), double-doubles (five) and ranks second in field goal percentage (58.7%). The only blemish is his 3.5 fouls per game average—a concern because he’s been playing less than 28 minutes per game—but that shouldn’t be a big deal, all things considered.

In Tuesday’s overtime loss to the US, Valanciunas scored 30 points, grabbed 15 rebounds and added four blocks. Had Connecticut swingman Jeremy Lamb not dropped 35 for coach Paul Hewitt’s squad, America would have been handed its first loss of the tournament. Unfortunately, that occurred the following day when American fell by two points to Croatia—a team that also beat Lithuania, Canada and a respectable Egyptian squad, but has lost to Serbia and Korea.

Other Notables:

{AUTHOR_BOX}Development League Shuffle

The NBA Development League has announced it’s affiliations for the 2011-2012 season, and the good news for the league is that there are now nine one-to-one affiliations, which is five more than last season.

“We’re very excited that an all-time high nine NBA teams will have exclusive, ‘one-to-one’ relationships with their NBA D-League affiliates this coming season,” NBA D-League President Dan Reed said in the official statement. “This clear trend of NBA teams buying into the NBA D-League is not only a testament to our past success, but also the sign of a very promising future.”

Here are next season’s affiliations:

Auston Toros (TX)—San Antonio Spurs
Bakersfield Jam (CA)—Los Angeles Clippers, Phoenix Suns and Toronto Raptors
Canton (OH)—Cleveland Cavaliers
Dakota Wizards (Bismark, ND)—Golden State Warriors
Erie Bayhawks (PA)—New York Knicks
Fort Wayne Mad Ants (IN)—Detroit Pistons, Indiana Pacers and Milwaukee Bucks
Idaho Stampede (Boise, ID)—Denver Nuggets, Portland Blazers and Utah Jazz
Iowa Energy (Des Moines, IA)—Chicago Bulls, New Orleans Hornets and Washington Wizards
Los Angeles D-Fenders (CA)—Los Angeles Lakers
Maine Red Claws (Portland, ME)—Boston Celtics, Charlotte Bobcats and Philadelphia 76ers
Reno Bighorns (NV)—Atlanta Hawks, Memphis Grizzlies and Sacramento Kings
Sioux Falls Skyforce (SD)—Miami HEAT, Minnesota Timberwolves and Orlando Magic
Springfield Armor (MA)—New Jersey Nets
Texas Legends (Frisco, TX)—Dallas Mavericks
Tulsa 66ers (OK)—Oklahoma City Thunder

Check Out: Andrew Bynum the Boxer

Yahoo! Sports writer Gil Alcaraz IV wrote an interesting piece on Lakers center Andrew Bynum, who is working with boxing trainer Freddie Roach in an attempt to become stronger, more durable and more athletic. It’s definitely worth a read.

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NBA Chats: There are two NBA Chats today starting Senior NBA Writer Joel Brigham who will host his weekly NBA chat at 4:30pm EST. HOOPSWORLD’s Lang Greene will host his NBA chat tonight at 8pm EST. Lang covers the Atlanta Hawks and the Eastern Conference. Get your questions in early. You can always find the next NBA chat here: Upcoming NBA Chats.