Nets face Catch-22 with DeAndre
The Nets never should have given DeAndre Jordan a four-year deal worth $40 million. Not at age 31. Not with a younger, more spry starting center already on the roster. Not with his athleticism visibly declining in each of the preceding seasons. And not with two max-contract superstars eating into the cap, with a trade for a third coming a year later.
They did it anyway, against better judgment, to sway Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving into signing long-term contracts. If there were no KD or Kyrie without DJ, then you take DJ every time, even if he’s expensive.
But Jordan made a costly mistake, one that could pave his road elsewhere should he and the Nets agree to a contract buyout. He mistook himself as irreplaceable, as too valuable for the team to trade.
Jordan’s contract value never matched his on-court value. He was out of shape to start the season and never got a chance to finish it. Durant, James Harden and even coach Steve Nash each took their turns demanding the best of the league’s former lob city finisher.
Those moments were caught on camera. Jordan’s best consistently was not.
And now, the Nets find themselves in a catch-22. Jordan and the Nets are reportedly progressing on buyout discussions, but a firm decision has yet to be made. If the Nets and Jordan do part ways, he’s already a frontrunner to join their biggest roadblock to a title: LeBron James and the overloaded Lakers. Buying out Jordan’s contract would not go over well with Durant, or Irving, or Harden, or Blake Griffin, each of whom are close with and fond of the team’s veteran big man.
A buyout, however, would set the tone: Either you produce or someone else will.
For the Nets, this is your textbook Catch-22. If they keep Jordan, they are paying a player who their coach has tabbed unfit to play in a switching defense. If they cut him, not only do they pave the road for him to sign elsewhere, but they fracture the trust of the stars he helped deliver to Brooklyn.
And if they choose the latter and see him down the road, you can be sure Jordan is going to take out all his frustrations on the team that let him rot on the bench.