1999 Denver Nuggets set precedent for the DeAndre Jordan blockade
The Los Angeles Clippers have changed the course of free agency with their 11th-hour meeting with free-agent center DeAndre Jordan, once primed to join the Dallas Mavericks but now apparently set to return to Staples Center to maintain the franchise’s contender status alongside Chris Paul and Blake Griffin. It’s a crazy story that started with an emoji war and only got crazier from there. Griffin’s even tweeting photos of chairs!
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As bizarre as this situation is, it is not without precedent in the recent past of the NBA. Back in January 1999, well-regarded young power forward Antonio McDyess became an unrestricted free agent during the truncated post-lockout offseason. McDyess had been traded from the Denver Nuggets to the Phoenix Suns prior to the 1997-98 season but reached an agreement to rejoin the Nuggets soon after the end of the lockout. Like Jordan, he had some misgivings about the decision and called Suns teammate Jason Kidd.
The Nuggets ensured that McDyess would not meet with Kidd via some drastic measures. Later, McDyess told Chris McCosky of the Detroit News about what happened (via Denver Stiffs via J.A Adande):
Kidd, along with Suns teammates George McCloud and Rex Chapman, chartered a plane and flew through a blizzard into Denver that night.
“I was at a (Colorado Avalanche) hockey game (in the owner’s suite) and I wasn’t going to sign until they got there,” McDyess said.
But McDyess said Dan Issel, Denver’s coach and general manager at the time, knew Kidd’s rescue party was on the way, and instructed security and ticket sellers at McNichols Arena to keep Kidd and company out of the building.
“I mean, it was a blizzard outside, and they wouldn’t let those guys inside the arena. They kept them out in the snow,” McDyess said. “It was crazy times.”
McDyess, true to his character, honored his verbal commitment to the Nuggets and played four more seasons with them. But he’s always regretted the decision he made on that snowy night.
Neither the Clippers nor Mavericks have hired a private security force to reach their desired outcome, at least as far as we know. Presumably Ballmer and Cuban can afford it if either wishes to go in that direction.
Jokes aside — here’s a brief break to push the hundreds of amazing jokes aside — the McDyess situation serves a reminder that players have had last-minute changes of heart before and that teams have pushed their available resources to the limit to make sure they get what they want. If the ongoing Jordan drama appears different, it could be because we are now in a culture that ensures we will get regular updates on the whole ordeal as it happens. When Jason Kidd got locked out of the Pepsi Center, no one was available to tweet that he had forgotten to pack a winter coat.
Only time will tell if Jordan ends up regretting his decision this summer. If he does, then we’ll probably hear about it soon enough.
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Eric Freeman is a writer for Ball Don’t Lie on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter!
