DeAndre Jordan often returns the purchases he makes, friends tell Ramona Shelburne and Tim MacMahon of ESPN.com, who note that he’s on his third agent in seven years. Thus, perhaps the Mavs might have known that Jordan wasn’t quite in the bag until he put pen to paper. They triumphantly celebrated when it seemed Jordan was on his way to Dallas, as Shelburne and MacMahon detail.
“I hear this scream in the backyard and it’s [Mavs owner Mark] Cuban, walking inside with his hands up like, ‘We got him!'” Chandler Parsons said. “It was unbelievable. I was so hyped, because he really is a franchise-changing type player. They don’t come around very often. It was awesome. His mom was crying. I think Cuban might have even cried.”
Parsons called Jordan’s decision soon thereafter to instead return to the Clippers “very unethical and disrespectful,” as the Mavs small forward said to the ESPN scribes. Still, the Jordan saga isn’t the only storyline that’s changed during NBA free agency. A few more are amid the latest from around the Pacific Division:
- The Lakers reportedly had a meeting planned with Kevin Love before he recommitted to the Cavs, but the purple-and-gold were never under the impression they would get that visit, a Lakers source told Jason Lloyd of the Akron Beacon Journal (Twitter link).
- Paul Pierce doesn’t have a team option on the final season of his three-year deal with the Clippers, as originally reported, but he does have a partial guarantee of $1,096,080 on the final season, which is worth a total of $3,679,840, reports Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders (Twitter link). The deal is the most the Clips could have given him using their taxpayer’s mid-level exception.
- Wesley Johnson‘s contract with the Clippers covers two years, instead of just one as originally reported, Pincus reports (Twitter link). Both seasons are at the minimum salary, and the second season is a player option, according to Pincus.
- DeMarcus Cousins expressed his enthusiasm this weekend for playing alongside Rajon Rondo, notes Marc J. Spears of Yahoo Sports (Twitter link). Cousins reportedly wants a trade to the Lakers, but Rondo has committed to sign with the Kings.
- The Suns had been eyeing Sonny Weems for more than a year, but Phoenix’s two-year, $5.8MM offer shocked him, and when he jumped on it, he turned down a fully guaranteed two-year, $6MM offer from Barcelona, as Paul Coro of the Arizona Republic details. The Phoenix deal reportedly includes a team option on year two, but the Suns think he can become the first guard off their bench, Coro writes. The Spurs also had a level of interest in the 29-year-old swingman, according to Coro.