Dallas newspaper prints cutout DeAndre Jordan devil mask for fans

Dallas has completely lost it. That’s what happens when your sub-500 team loses to the now 1-6 Pelicans and you’re still looking for a scapegoat. The city’s obsession with DeAndre Jordan has reached its zenith with The Dallas Morning News printing a picture of Jordan with devil horns and urging fans to cut it out and use it as a mask when the Clippers roll into town.

Let’s look at the three biggest problems with this:

“Jordan’s here, and jilted locals are ready to pass judgment.”

No, Dallas Morning News -- nobody is “ready to pass judgment,” you’ve already passed judgment. You put devil horns on a photo of him. There’s no walking back from that. You can’t just say “We decided he’s a pretty OK guy” after putting devil horns on him.

Newspaper makes for a horrible mask, there are no eye holes and no suggested way to affix this to a human’s head.

Money talks, that’s always been the way in sports -- but the DeAndre Jordan saga taught us that it isn’t always about the money. In a literal sense, sure, some teams can offer more money with max deals, but how is the next big-name free agent supposed to feel when they enter talks with the Mavericks?

Here’s how they’ll feel: Backed into a corner and forced to make a quick decision, lest the team’s owner endlessly chides you and the local news turns you into a devil. Forget Mark Cuban being on Shark Tank, Dallas has shown that it is voracious when there’s blood in the water.

Finally, one last suggestion -- stop. It sucks to have a free agent change his mind, and obviously emotions are high when the two teams play for the first time, but this went too far a month ago. You’ve jumped the shark, Dallas, and forgotten there are a lot more seasons of this show ahead.

SB Nation presents: Jordan’s flip-flop and other free agent moves of the offseason