Mark Cuban says he has moved on. The Dallas Mavericks organization moved on and went out and got Deron Williams and Zaza Pachulia.
Still, the DeAndre Jordan mid-stream reversal is the story of their off-season.
Dallas fans haven’t all moved on — wait until the Clippers visit the American Airlines Center — but in an interview with Earl K. Sneed of the team’s official Web site, reserve point guard Devin Harris summed up the feelings of many around the team:
Devin Harris on DeAndre Jordan: "I think, if he could have done it a more mature way, it would have been a lot better off."
— Earl K. Sneed (@EarlKSneed) August 5, 2015
Devin Harris: "What is done is done, and we have to move forward and move on to the next step and try to look forward to getting better."
— Earl K. Sneed (@EarlKSneed) August 5, 2015
The problem for Dallas is now they are a team battling for the eight seed in the West next season, a team without a clear path to return to the Finals while Dirk Nowitzki can still contribute. Not that Jordan alone was going to make that happen, but he was a big step down the path (along with signing Wesley Matthews, who stayed with the team).
What Jordan did was fully within his rights — it may have violated the way things are usually done, but he can change his mind any time up to signing the contract. Cuban and the Mavericks admit that.
However, this circus ended up being an extension of Jordan’s personality — he’s fun-loving, and not always the most mature guy in the locker room. He’s 27, he doesn’t have to drive a mini-van and act like he’s 47. He’s a good guy (from my limited interactions with him), and he should be enjoying all Los Angeles and life have to offer. But his personality was all over how this series of events went down, and he should have at least called Cuban as it was happening and explain his change of heart. That would have been the adult thing to do.
Now, we should all just move on... well, until the Clippers come to Dallas.