Unsigned players looking for new contracts this summer can’t put pen to paper with a new team until the NBA’s free-agent moratorium expires this Thursday. Of course, they’re free to strike deals in principle with their target franchises, provided that they don’t comment on the specifics of their deals. Individuals who do are heavily fined—Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban has already been slapped with a $25,000 penalty for talking about his deals with DeAndre Jordan and Wes Matthews. Rather than go into detail and fall victim to the rule, several players are circumventing the NBA’s moratorium by hinting at what’s going on behind the scenes on social media using cryptic strings of emojis.
In this case, players from the L.A. Clippers appear to be tweeting their attempts to re-recruit DeAndre Jordan, who left L.A. after verbally committing to the Mavs. Apparently, the Clippers are having a hard time letting go.
Kicking things off, the Clippers’ Chandler Parsons tweeted an image of a plane as he flew off to Houston in an effort to win Jordan back.
J.J. Reddick was soon to follow, preferring ye olde automobile as his mode of transportation.
Not to be outdone, Blake Griffin added a helicopter into the mix a few minutes later.
Some individuals are having fun with the meme. Chris Paul (also reportedly on his way to Texas) tweeted two emojis referencing an image of him, LeBron James, Gabrielle Union (James’ wife) and Dwyane Wade kicking it aboard a banana boat in the Bahamas.
The fine folks over at TNT also chimed in with a tweet of their own, likely designed to confuse basketball fans already overloaded with free agent news.
Some just didn’t get it at all. Old-timer Paul Pierce of the Washington Wizards attempted to get in on the fun, but instead of tweeting an emoji, he literally attached an image of a rocket to his post.
Uh, sure, Pierce. Stay tuned to Twitter to see how this concludes, or simply wait until the moratorium ends tomorrow.
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