DeAndre Jordan knew when his Clippers teammates paid a visit to him in July that his second thoughts about committing to the Mavericks were about to escalate, writes Dan Woike of the Orange County Register.
“When the Clippers came to my house,” Jordan said, “I was like ‘Oh [expletive]. This is going to be bad.’”
It wound up being good for the Clippers, but it was the Mavericks who absorbed the worst of it, with their offseason plans in shambles following Jordan’s decision to vacate his deal with them. Jordan will play in Dallas tonight, but in a Clippers uniform as the Mavs play host to his L.A. team. See more on the grudge match stemming from one of the offseason’s most engaging stories:
- It’s not that Jordan turned his back on the Mavericks, but instead the way he went about it that Dirk Nowitzki found untoward, note Tim MacMahon and Justin Verrier of ESPNDallas.com. “We’ve all changed our mind before,” Nowitzki said. “I think the franchise and the fans were not happy with the way he went about it — not responding to [owner Mark Cuban] and [Chandler] Parsons anymore and kind of put-the-head-in-the-sand strategy, instead of being upfront and saying, ‘Hey, I changed my mind,’ and just being honest about it. I think that’s what rubbed people the wrong way, but it’s over.
- Mark Cuban saved all the text messages that Jordan sent him during the saga, including one in which he told the Mavs owner that he was on a date when he was actually with Blake Griffin, observes Ben Bolch of the Los Angeles Times. “Some day I’ll let you read all the texts and we’ll get into it and we’ll talk about it, but now is not the right time,” Cuban said to Bolch (Twitter link).
- Jordan’s flip-flop wasn’t altogether shocking for his Clippers teammates, who are familiar with his impulsiveness and indecisive nature, Ramona Shelburne of ESPN.com told the Dallas Morning News in an interview. Shelburne believes Jordan didn’t want to be the pre-eminent star in Dallas and instead simply sought better treatment and appreciation from the Clippers.
- Eddie Sefko of the Dallas Morning News suggests Jordan took the easy way out, declining the chance to embrace the mantle of leadership and the work that comes with it.