DeAndre Jordan - Dallas Free Agency Disaster Could Play Out with Kevin Durant in 2016 [UPDATE]

NBA free agency opened on July 1st at 12:01 am, and less than 48 hours later, it was reported that DeAndre Jordan was leaving the Clippers to sign a 4-year, $80 million deal with the Dallas Mavericks.

The problem for Dallas: The Mavs still couldn’t sign him for another six days, because free agents couldn’t actually sign their new deals until 12:01 am on July 9th.

You know what happened next: The Clippers put on a full court press on July 8th to retain their center, pulling Blake Griffin from vacation and sending Chris Paul and coach Doc Rivers as part of contingent to Houston to retain Jordan.

It worked.

As frustrating as this was for the Mavericks and Mark Cuban, this sort of situation is likely to unfold next summer because contracts can’t be signed until July 12th.

The NBA's free agency moratorium is even longer the next two years. Contracts can't be signed until July 12.
— Brian Mahoney (@briancmahoney) July 9, 2015

UPDATE: The NBA wisely decided to shorten the moratorium. The date has been changed from July 12th to July 6th.

So what happens next July when Kevin Durant makes up his mind to leave the Thunder on July 3rd? Russell Westbrook still has eight days to get Durant to stay. Will we see another hostage situation unfold with Durant, or perhaps Joakim Noah in Chicago or Mike Conley in Memphis or Al Jefferson in Charlotte?

Winners in this scenario: The NBA, which will dominate the first two weeks of July, NBA fans who breathlessly scramble for any nugget of information and teams trying to retain free agents, because it gives them time to pull a Clippers move.

Losers? Teams who think for a few days or a week that they’ve locked up a potential star, only to watch helplessly as he changes his mind.

Somehow, I find it hard to believe Michael Jordan would fly to wherever Al Jefferson is living, and groveling the free agent to stay in Charlotte. But what happens if the Hornets get to the playoffs and win a series?