It was reported late last week that DeAndre Jordan had come to an agreement to sign a four-year deal with the Dallas Mavericks, putting the Los Angeles Clippers in a very difficult position to succeed moving forward without a single center on the roster.
The key word in that statement? Agreement.
That means Jordan has yet to sign any official deal, which gives him the right to change his mind about where he wants to go. Most had reasonably assumed that his time in Los Angeles had simply come to an end since last week, until a report surfaced early on Wednesday that the Clippers would try to do everything they can to lure their center back.
Apparently, the plan has worked, and the Clippers will go as far as they possibly can to make sure Jordan signs a deal with them when midnight strikes: that’s when players around the league are eligible to sign the deals they agreed upon with teams of their choice. Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports has more:
Los Angeles Clippers ownership, management and players descended upon Houston on Wednesday and believe they have a commitment from free-agent center DeAndre Jordan to forgo his previous deal to the Dallas Mavericks and return to the Clippers, league sources told Yahoo Sports.
Clippers coach and president Doc Rivers and owner Steve Ballmer won’t leave the house, awaiting 12:01 a.m. ET time when they can sign him to a five-year contract worth more than $110 million, league sources said. The Mavericks and Jordan’s agents at Relativity Sports have been unable to contact Jordan throughout the aftenroon and evening on Wednesday, sources said.
Jordan had agreed in principle to a four-year, $80 million deal with the Mavericks on July 3, but reached out in the past 48 hours to Rivers and expressed uncertainty about his decision to choose Dallas, league sources said. That started the chain of events that led to the Clippers traveling to Houston to meet with Jordan on Wednesday, sources said.
Rivers converged on Houston with Ballmer and a group of players that included Blake Griffin, Chris Paul, Paul Pierce and J.J. Redick to meet with Jordan – without the presence of Jordan’s agents at Relativity Sports.
Mavericks owner Mark Cuban traveled to Houston on Wednesday to meet with Jordan, but it’s unclear whether he’ll get the opportunity, sources said.
To confirm that Jordan is literally locked in his own home, Blake Griffin posted the following tweet:
Don’t agree with the furniture layout but I’m not an interior designer. pic.twitter.com/23PNgQB88z
— Blake Griffin (@blakegriffin32) July 9, 2015
Alright everybody goodnight! pic.twitter.com/cME0rFR5LC — Blake Griffin (@blakegriffin32) July 9, 2015
Ramona Shelburne of ESPN confirmed that Jordan will make it official and return to the Clippers. The Mavericks will now have to scramble to find an answer at the center spot and completely rethink their plans for next season and really, for years to come.
Chandler Parsons, who hoped to take part in convincing Jordan to stick with the original plan earlier on Wednesday, realized that it wasn’t going to happen and had this to say:
I thought I had a good pump fake.
— Chandler Parsons (@ChandlerParsons) July 9, 2015
Jim Park is a blogger and editor of Sheridan Hoops. Follow him on twitter @SheridanBlog.