Celtics Writer Tweets Most Unfair-to-Players NBA Free Agency Take and Gets Roasted
By James.r
Sometimes, analysts get so caught up in the sports moment that they lose all sense of reality, especially in the NBA, where there's always drama and the takes are always hot. That's exactly what happened after forward Marcus Morris was reported to be reconsidering his handshake agreement with the San Antonio Spurs of two years, $20 million to potentially sign with the New York Knicks.
Celtics The Athletic writer Jared Weiss aired out his displeasure with Morris' actions on Twitter, offering up a wild punishment idea for players who back out of verbal contract commitments:
Said this when DeAndre Jordan backed out of his Dallas deal, but the NBA should suspend players 1 season if they unilaterally break a formal agreement to sign with another team without a material change in circumstance. It can erode confidence in the transaction market.
— Jared Weiss (@JaredWeissNBA) July 9, 2019
Obviously, Morris reneging on the deal would not be the best look, especially considering the Spurs had to move around numerous pieces in order to create the available mid-level exception money to sign Morris in the first place. But this is still a crazy idea, considering Morris never put pen to paper.
Don't worry, though, Twitter made sure to set Weiss straight, with many calling him out as the free agency police:
good evening, officer
— Niko (@NikoReg_) July 9, 2019
It's true –– Weiss doesn't exactly come off as a rule-bender with this take.
Others clowned his use of "material change," a term that's now infamous after Twitter user "Arye Abraham's" botching of the Kawhi Leonard saga...
"Material change" pic.twitter.com/rsVAngJu96
— Matt Spendley (@mattspendley) July 9, 2019
... While Peter argued that "material change" is a bit of an ambiguous term:
Could argue that being offered $5 million more a year is a material change in circumstance.
— Peter Nygaard (@RetepAdam) July 9, 2019
Yeah, $5 million seems pretty material to us.
if only there were some way to legally establish an agreement between to parties that they couldn't simply back out of.
— Richard Lawler (@rjcc) July 9, 2019
what would you even call that?
We believe you would call that a contract –– which, by the way, Morris has not yet signed with the Spurs.
Remember when the clippers signed Blake Griffin to to a 5 year contract and then traded him that same year?
— #EtienneSzn Pt III (@young_thuggha) July 9, 2019
To put a cap on the roast, @young_thuggha points out the hypocrisy of saying players should be punished for backing out of deals while teams have absolutely no obligation to the player once a contract is signed.
Sorry, Jared Weiss. Let's hope tomorrow goes better for you on social media day than today did.