The DeAndre Jordan free agency saga was certainly all kinds of entertaining for at least 24 hours.
But ultimately, it was ridiculous.
Jordan reneging on his verbal agreement with the Mavericks to stay with the Clippers unfolded publicly, with players getting silly on Twitter and wild (but inaccurate) reports emerging of how Mark Cuban was attempting to gain access to Jordan to try to seal the deal one last time.
The NBA’s moratorium on free agent signings is to blame, and commissioner Adam Silver admitted that the way this particular scenario played out was not great overall from the league’s point of view.
The problem is that there isn’t an obviously perfect solution to get the issue fixed.
It is a good idea to have a period where no signings can take place. It gives both players and teams time to weigh their options, and allows for both sides to have multiple conversations. But nine days is probably too much time, because while verbal agreements for the most part stay in place, as we saw with Jordan, it is possible for players to have a change of heart, and ultimately backtrack on those commitments.
