NBA Rumors: Nets Hoping To Sign DeAndre Jordan In Order To Lure Kevin Durant To Brooklyn, Per Marc Stein
Even with Golden State Warriors forward Kevin Durant expected to miss the entire 2019-20 NBA season with an Achilles tendon injury, that hasn’t stopped other teams from targeting the 10-time All-Star in the offseason. The Brooklyn Nets are reportedly among the favorites to land Durant once he becomes eligible to enter free agency, and in order to do that, it appears that they have their sights set on one of his best friends away from the court — erstwhile New York Knicks center DeAndre Jordan.
On Monday morning, Marc Stein of The New York Times took to Twitter to offer an update on Durant’s situation in free agency, noting that the Nets are “exploring the feasibility” of signing Jordan, who was acquired in the January trade that sent Kristaps Porzingis to the Dallas Mavericks. According to Stein, who cited unnamed league sources in his tweet, the Nets are targeting Jordan in hopes of making the idea of teaming up with Kyrie Irving in Brooklyn “more enticing” to Durant.
Stein’s tweet came on the same day that Ric Bucher of Bleacher Report offered a detailed update on Durant’s free agency plans, which included a claim from an NBA executive who stated that the 30-year-old forward is “really pissed off” at the Warriors for clearing him to play in Game 5 of this year’s NBA Finals. Bucher’s report likewise cited league sources as he also noted that the Nets are “trying to recruit” Jordan in order to convince Durant to sign with the Nets.
Nets mulling DeAndre Jordan signing to entice Kevin Durant https://t.co/EmQuLgAIfv pic.twitter.com/SoBqI6NlwR
— New York Post (@nypost) June 24, 2019
Regarding the possibility of Durant and Irving teaming up in Brooklyn, Bucher wrote that both players had “met twice in recent weeks” to talk about possibly signing with the same team in the 2019 offseason. The first meeting, per Bucher, took place while Durant was out with a strained calf ahead of his more serious injury, while the second reportedly happened in New York, shortly after “KD” underwent surgery for his ruptured Achilles tendon.
Should DeAndre Jordan end up with the Brooklyn Nets as rumored, he could serve as a potentially good mentor to young big man Jarrett Allen, who manned the starting center spot for the Nets in the 2018-19 season. After spending his first 10 seasons with the Los Angeles Clippers, Jordan signed a one-year contract in the summer of 2018 with the Dallas Mavericks, where he averaged 11 points and 13.7 rebounds and shot 64.4 percent from the field in 50 games before getting traded, per Basketball-Reference. He then played 19 games for the Knicks, where he saw his averages slightly decline to 10.9 points and 11.4 rebounds while still maintaining an excellent 63.4 percent field goal shooting clip.
