DeAndre Jordan Reneges on Mavs Deal, Re-signs With Clippers

Photo by Mel Blackmon of CBS

In the span of one short day, DeAndre Jordan has become one of the most controversial figures in the NBA today.  After initially agreeing to a four-year, $80+ million dollar contact with the Dallas Mavericks on Saturday, Jordan went back on his word, signing a similar four-year, $80 million dollar contract with the Los Angeles Clippers.

Around 11 A.M, ESPN’s Marc Stein reported that the Clippers were trying to convince Jordan to return to Los Angeles. According to Stein, many Clippers players rushed to meet Jordan, attempting to reach him before any Dallas officials could. Jordan assured the Mavericks that they would get a face-to-face meeting with Jordan before he made his official decision, but the Mavs were never granted this luxury, as the Clippers refused to leave Jordan alone.

According to Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports, Jordan’s meeting with the Clippers was short, as he committed to them early on, but the Clippers insisted on staying with Jordan until he physically signed a contract. Instead of leaving the Jordan, the Clippers played cards with him to wait out the night, and when the clock finally struck 12:01 AM, Los Angeles was reunited with it’s prized center.

Upon his announcement of signing with the Mavericks, Clippers fans felt betrayed, with many crying doom having lost their star center. While the Clippers would have lost a big piece of the puzzle with Jordan gone, they certainly wouldn’t have been bad. However, in the incredibly competitive Western conference, the Clippers simply couldn’t afford to lose a player who meant as much to the organization as Jordan does.

On the flip side, the Dallas Mavericks have just lost their prized free agent and are now in a deplorable state, left with an aging Dirk Nowitzki and Chandler Parsons, which is simply not enough to make in far in the Western Conference. In addition, Dallas lost out on Jeremy Lin, who instead opted to go to Charlotte. Now, Dallas’ prized free agent is Wesley Matthews, who is coming off of a torn Achilles tendon, which is not an easy injury to recover from.

The Mavericks are not the only one who were harmed by Jordan’s antics, as his popularity and credibility will no doubt take a massive blow from this stunt. Jordan showed that his word means nothing to him and was reluctant to face Mark Cuban and the Mavericks to admit that he made a mistake and apologize for what he put the Mavericks franchise through. Instead, Jordan took the cowardly way out, and ignored Cuban and the Mavs.

The argument could be made that the Clippers prevented him from responding to Cuban, but the fact of the matter is that DeAndre Jordan is a grown man who can make his own decision. He is responsible for his actions, and he should be held accountable for them.

In addition, this sets an interesting precedent in the NBA free agency period. Because of the Clippers’ refusal to admit defeat to the Mavericks, they were able to secure their star center for another four years. It should come as no surprise if other teams follow the Clippers’ lead, and go after their free agents who left for other teams.

Jordan’s actions have massive repercussions and it certainly spices up the match up between Dallas and Los Angeles, where tensions will certainly skyrocket between the two teams.