They also sent out a tweet welcoming Jordan back to Los Angeles.
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The Los Angeles Clippers made a last-ditch push Wednesday and evidently persuaded DeAndre Jordan to renege on his oral agreement with Dallas and remain with the Clippers, people with knowledge of the situation told The Associated Press.
It was a surprising reversal for Jordan, the defensive pillar who agreed to a four-year, $80 million deal with the Mavericks last week. But that was last Friday, and the contract could not be signed until 12:01 a.m. Eastern time Thursday, according to National Basteball Association rules.
The Clippers announced the deal Wednesday night tweeting, “WE’RE OFFICIALLY CENTERED”. Dan Fegan, Jordan’s agent, has close ties with Cuban – a factor that reportedly played a major role in the big man verbally committing to the Mavericks in the first place. The Mavericks did not even get a warning. Despite there not being any official statement of the contract between Jordan and the Mavericks, the franchise felt they had his word and no doubt feel disrespected right now.
Neither Ballmer, a ex- Microsoft Corp. chief executive officer, nor technology entrepreneur Cuban returned e-mails seeking comment on their pursuit of Jordan, who averaged 11.5 points and 15 rebounds last season. The team desperately needs his talent; after all, they do not want to face another 34-year stretch with only three winning seasons!
Jordan began having doubts about leaving almost $30 million on the table for a team that is not as good as the Clippers.
Earlier this week, Redick said on Bleacher Report radio that the Clippers deserved an “F” in free agency after losing Jordan.
“He was such an integral part of what we did, not just defensively but offensively with his screening, his rolling, his offensive rebounds”, shooting guard J.J.
Jordan’s put the Mavericks in a terribly unfortunate spot. However, he already lost his leverage during that free agent period.
Moreover, the Chandler Parsons and Dirk Nowitzki may think of opting out of the final years of their contracts without a chance of winning with the Mavs.
If the hype of The Decision was a new low for National Basteball Association free agency, the unexpected madness of yesterday might have been a new high point.
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The meeting capped a wild day for National Basteball Association fans, who believed Griffin and Paul were on vacation, with the latter blowing up the Internet with the photo of him aboard a banana boat with LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Wade’s wife, actress Gabrielle Union.
