Free agency in the NBA started in earnest today, but don't tell Mark Cuban that. The owner of the Dallas Mavericks was swindled out of his biggest free agent catch in a ridiculous, emoji-laden saga that highlights the issues with the NBA's false-start free agency system.
In the NBA, contracts for free agents expire June 30, which means those players are allowed to start negotiating with teams at the stroke of midnight July 1 — but actual pen-to-paper contracts cannot be signed until July 9. That interim "moratorium" period proved to be quite the whirlwind this year, as free agent DeAndre Jordan reneged on a verbal commitment he'd made to Cuban's Mavericks to re-sign with the Clippers at midnight on July 9, following a series of ridiculous tweets from fully grown, incredibly rich men. Here's Clippers forward Blake Griffin alluding to Los Angeles' 11th-hour plea to Jordan, which consisted of a team contingent arriving at Jordan's Houston home and apparently barricading him inside:
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
-
June 25 editorial cartoonsCartoons Wednesday's cartoons include war on a loop, the New York City mayoral race, and one almighty F-bomb
-
How generative AI is changing the way we write and speakIn The Spotlight ChatGPT and other large language model tools are quietly influencing which words we use
-
How long can Nato keep Donald Trump happy?Today's Big Question Military alliance pulls out all the stops to woo US president on his peacemaker victory lap
-
Shakespeare not an absent spouse, study proposesspeed read A letter fragment suggests that the Shakespeares lived together all along, says scholar Matthew Steggle
-
New Mexico to investigate death of Gene Hackman, wifespeed read The Oscar-winning actor and his wife Betsy Arakawa were found dead in their home with no signs of foul play
-
Giant schnauzer wins top prize at Westminster showSpeed Read Monty won best in show at the 149th Westminster Kennel Club dog show
-
Beyoncé, Kendrick Lamar take top GrammysSpeed Read Beyoncé took home album of the year for 'Cowboy Carter' and Kendrick Lamar's diss track 'Not Like Us' won five awards
-
The Louvre is giving 'Mona Lisa' her own roomSpeed Read The world's most-visited art museum is getting a major renovation
-
Honda and Nissan in merger talksSpeed Read The companies are currently Japan's second and third-biggest automakers, respectively
-
Taylor Swift wraps up record-shattering Eras tourSpeed Read The pop star finally ended her long-running tour in Vancouver, Canada
-
Drake claims illegal boosting, defamationSpeed Read The rapper accused Universal Music of boosting Kendrick Lamar's diss track and said UMG allowed him to be falsely accused of pedophilia
