Derek Fisher signed with the Oklahoma City Thunder this week, and the move is not sitting well with the Dallas Mavericks.
Dallas signed Fisher at the end of November after point guard Darren Collison got hurt. At the time, Fisher said he would devote himself to the Mavs for the season.
“I told (teammates) today, ‘This is not a pit stop. This is not kind of the final whatever before I decide to retire soon.’ I’m here to give everything I have to help this team right now and continue to build as we go through this season,” Fisher said after his first practice with the Mavericks on Nov. 29.
After straining his knee on Dec. 18, Fisher went against the commitment he made to the team and asked for his release.
“In Tuesday’s game against Philadelphia, I suffered an injury to my patellar tendon,” Fisher said in a statement. “With this news and the difficulty I have been having being away from my family, I have asked the organization to waive me so I can return home.”
The Mavericks obliged and released Fisher at his request.
On Monday, the Oklahoma City Thunder announced they were signing Fisher for the rest of the season. As you would figure, the turn of events is bothering the Mavericks.
NBA.com’s Jeff Caplan says the Dallas front office is “agitated” that Fisher signed with the Thunder after leaving Dallas on the premises of being close to his family.
It’s easy to see why they would be upset. They signed him in good faith and released him in good faith, and now he turns around and signs with another team in what seems like a deceitful move. Of course, this isn’t the first time Fisher has pulled a similar stunt. He asked the Utah Jazz to release him following the 2007 season so he could be close to his daughter, who needed special treatment for a medical condition. Then he signed with the Lakers, which was one of Utah’s competitors in the Western Conference.
Fisher needs to stop playing the family card to get him out of situations he doesn’t find favorable. It’s getting old and it makes him look bad.
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