DeAndre Jordan was all set to become a Dallas Maverick. He had agreed to a four-year, $80 million and change contract which would essentially make him the face of the franchise in Dallas. Dirk Nowitzki and Chandler Parsons were two of the many players excited about the opportunity to play with Jordan, while owner Mark Cuban was ready to crown the new king in Dallas.
Then came the unexpected twist. In what is one of the craziest things that I’ve seen as a sports fan in history, DeAndre Jordan not only flipped back to the Los Angeles Clippers, but did so in an absolutely awful way. Not only did Jordan choose to spurn the Mavericks and completely ignore their phone calls and attempts to see him, but he never even picked up the phone and called Cuban, or Parsons for that matter, who did plenty of recruiting of Jordan himself.
The Clippers decided to head to Jordan’s home, chat with him, get him to come back to the Clippers and then proceeded to sit with him until the clock struck midnight when they could get him to sign on the dotted line. No, they weren’t keeping Jordan locked up against his will until he agreed to come back. It was a mutual meeting that extended just long enough that Cuban and the Mavericks couldn’t get back in the mix.
Jordan handled this in possibly the worst way he could have. If he didn’t want to be a Maverick, don’t leave Cuban waiting in the wings and attempting to call and talk to you. While Doc Rivers may think that Jordan didn’t owe Cuban and the Mavs a call, according to CBS Sports, that’s flat out wrong. Be a professional and let the team who you agreed to a deal with know where you stand.
The way that DeAndre Jordan handled this situation has been the talking point over the past two days. It’s not getting any better either, and more than likely, it’ll go down as one of the strangest free agent decisions that we’ve ever seen. The story will die down eventually, but when? That’s the real question.
Follow Jeff on Twitter @JSM8ith.
