DeAndre Jordan Handles NBA Free Agency In Literally The Worst Possible Way [Report]
DeAndre Jordan is the most talked about man in the NBA at this very moment, but it’s not exactly for the best of reasons. When Jordan chose to snub the Dallas Mavericks after agreeing to a four-year, $80 million deal to return to the Los Angeles Clippers, he’s become the definition of how you do bad business.
It’s not just the fact that DeAndre Jordan flipped back to the Clippers from the Mavericks, it’s how he went about this entire disaster. As ESPN reported, the Clippers actually stayed with Jordan until he was able to sign a contract extension with the team late on Wednesday night and into Thursday morning. Was Jordan held hostage? No, not a chance. Jordan wanted the Clippers there and allowed them to stay, making this even worse.
If Jordan didn’t want to honor his commitment to the Mavericks, that’s one thing. But for DeAndre Jordan to completely snub the Mavericks and not answer phone calls from Dallas owner Mark Cuban is simply awful. For The Win explained that Cuban had tried to contact Jordan multiple times, but that Jordan was “shutting down and shutting out” Cuban, something they call “unprofessional at its best.”
To make things even worse for Jordan, we got to see the other side of the spectrum from another free agent who agreed to sign with the Mavericks in Wes Matthews.
On the surface, it seems that Wes Matthews is exactly the type of NBA player teams dream of having, while Jordan has now placed himself in the role of a villain. It’s just simple business: if Jordan didn’t plan to honor the commitment, the least he could do is make a phone call and let the Mavs know what was going on.
The fact that Jordan decided to completely snub the Mavericks and not answer phone calls from Cuban throughout this process was literally the worst way to go about this. As For The Win explained, the Mavericks are now left without a center, as they let Tyson Chandler head to Phoenix and didn’t look into other options, simply because they didn’t think they needed to.
It’s a safe assumption that Jordan doesn’t care how he left the Mavs looking at the center position. It’s not his job to care. What Jordan should care about, though, is that he chose to put together one of the most memorable, and bad, free agency stretches in memory.
Jordan’s decision to dodge calls from Cuban and other Mavericks (including Chandler Parsons, apparently) makes him look more than a bit unprofessional. As for the Clippers, well, they don’t look great in the entire situation either.
Mark Cuban may be a billionaire, but you still have to feel for the guy on this one.
[Image via Scott Halleran / Getty Images]
