However, Jordan abruptly pulled out of the deal and will now remain at the Clippers, where he has played for seven seasons.
Advertisement
Frustrated Mavericks owner Mark Cuban spoke out about the collapse of the deal on Thursday, saying he had not heard anything directly from the player.
DeAndre Jordan rejoining the Los Angeles Clippers came as more of a surprise.
The contingency plans were slim in free agency for the cap-strapped Clippers, whose only other center on the roster was gone after trading Spencer Hawes in the deal for Lance Stephenson.
With Jordan now resigned in LA and ex- Dallas center Tyson Chandler off to play for the Phoenix Suns, the Mavs are left with quite a glaring hole in the middle. Don’t let the players agree to deals until those deals can be real.
“I thought I had a good pump fake”, Mavericks forward Chandler Parsons wrote on Twitter, another thinly veiled reference to Jordan changing his mind and spurning the Mavericks.
Before free agency period even opened, there were a lot of rumors that DeAndre Jordan might leave the Clippers for the Mavs.
Jordan’s signing with either team wasn’t going to trump what San Antonio did in attracting LaMarcus Aldridge to town. The line outside the arena stretched for more than four blocks as a fan base worn down by years of losing celebrated the arrival of Towns and 24th overall pick Tyus Jones, a point guard who won Final Four MVP in his lone season at Duke and was a high school star in the Minneapolis suburb of Apple Valley. It had been projected to come in closer to $67 million until recently. He re-signed with the Clippers. He is long in the tooth (37) but can still contribute and pass along fatherly advice to Blake Griffin and Chris Paul.
Falk said that situations like Jordan’s are rare, noting Carlos Boozer backing out of a contract extension with the Cleveland Cavaliers to take more money with the Utah Jazz in 2004. The other key piece was Kevin Love (five years, $110 million). After committing to Mark Cuban and the Dallas Mavericks, he ultimately decided to return to Hollywood. Iman Shumpert (four years, $40 million) helps out the Cavs’ perimeter defense. If he had announced early he was staying with the Clippers, teams may have changed their free agent strategies, including the Mavericks. It even overshadows the signing of Omer Asik (five years, $60 million), who is an asset only because Davis returns.
He would re-sign in Los Angeles.
Teams made their pitches to Jordan, who whittled his destinations down to two. This franchise probably won’t make the playoffs and will send Bryant out as a loser.
The Indiana Pacers have been shopping Roy Hibbert around the league. Stoudemire served as Dallas’ backup center last season and presented a last ditch option as a starter for the Mavericks. Redick, Paul Pierce and Doc Rivers descended on Jordan’s home in Houston on Wednesday night, July 8, 2015, for a last-ditch push to keep their defensive pillar, Jordan backed out of a verbal agreement with the Mavericks to stay with the only National Basteball Association home he’s ever had. Calls to Jordan by Cuban were not returned.
Advertisement
The Mavs went all-in on trying to avoid any type of reloading process through the draft and now the bill for those decisions is coming due. When he bought the franchise, they already had Dirk Nowitzki, Steve Nash and Michael Finley. Most free agents said no to the Knicks again. Another similar situation arose in 2009 when Hedo Turkoglu signed with the Toronto Raptors after agreeing to terms with the Portland Trail Blazers.
