It’s difficult to know what to make of today’s announcement by the Detroit Shock that they’ve signed ESPN analyst Nancy Lieberman to a seven-day contract. Lieberman, 50, last played when she was 39 for the Phoenix Mercury during the WNBA’s first season. Interestingly, she also was a general manager and coach of the team she is now joining as a player. The Shock has some short-term and longer-term roster problems. The team was just handed its share of suspensions from a brawl with the Los Angeles Sparks earlier in the week and forward Cheryl Ford is out for the season with a torn ACL.

This is really curious, though. Lieberman has absolutely nothing to prove. She is deservedly in several halls of fame. As a young player in the 1970s, she was a startling phenom in that era because her playing style was aggressively schoolyard in a way that hewed closely to the men’s game. Again, for the times, she was a revelation. If for no other reason, “Lady Magic” deserves tons of credit as a pioneer on behalf of thousands and thousands of female players who followed.

On the subject of the Shock, assistant coach Rick Mahorn was suspended for two games for his role in the melee. Mahorn came in contact with L.A.’s, Lisa Leslie and Leslie fell to the floor. Mahorn says he was just trying to be a peacemaker and the contact was inadvertent. Head coach Bill Laimbeer voiced strong objection to Mahorn’s suspension insisting that his assistant was being “thrown under the bus.”

Detroit’s Plenette Pierson received the longest suspension, four games. Four other Detroit players were suspended for one game. Los Angeles had two players suspended for two games and three for one game.