Former Clippers Teammates Chime In on the Free Agency Saga of DeAndre Jordan
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The Free Agency market in the NBA calls for players to leave or stay with their franchises. It is a time when players move from their existing franchises or stay with them, yet again. Thus, DeAndre Jordan entered the free agency in 2015, which turned out to be the most entertaining sagas in the NBA.
The decision made by DJ was incredible and is one of the best U-Turns in NBA history. Likewise, Blake Griffin and JJ Reddick sat down to discuss the events that led to that epic night, in a recent interview.
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DeAndre Jordan wanted to sign for the Mavericks
The center wanted to leave the Clippers and a verbal agreement was made to sign with the Dallas Mavericks. Fresh after their title victory against the Miami Heat, the owner of the Mavericks franchise Mark Cuban, wanted to sign DJ. The pairing of both Jordan and Nowitzki might have helped them to retain the title.
The Clippers, in the meantime, wanted to keep Jordan at all costs after their ‘Lob City’ success. However, the Dallas Mavericks looked confident to sign him up.
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What transpired after that is one of the best moments in NBA history.
The Mavs signed some key backups in a bid to bring Jordan to the team. With the presence of other key players, bringing DJ would signal a sign of intent by the Mavericks; the twists and turns started after that.
Blake and Reddick, along with Paul Pierce, met at a hotel and started sending cryptic tweets on his arrival back to the Clippers. On the other hand, Chandler Parsons was the key negotiator for Jordan to come to Dallas. A Twitter battle rose out between Parsons and Blake in the context of DJ’s arrival to their franchises.
Significantly, Cuban booked a hotel right next to DJ in a bid to safeguard his future player. Moreover, Parsons was said to have had dinner with Jordan several times to initiate the move.
It was all said and done by the Mavericks when Jordan had completely changed his stance on the situation.
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Jordan re-signs with the Clippers
Despite all those troubles taken by the owner and the players, DJ’s heart prevailed with the Clippers. Griffin and his teammates expressed their love for the center, which struck a chord in his mind, and he re-signed with the the franchise.
Blake recollected the long saga in a recent interview.
“I think that was the most fun, I guess I am biased because I was involved, but that was probably one of the most fun days on NBA Twitter,” said Griffin.
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JJ Reddick remembered the story as well.
“The whole thing about it was, Blake had dinner with DJ the night before and I had talked to Blake that morning and I was the first one at the hotel. We all met at the four seasons and Blake was like, ‘no yeah, he’s coming back. It’s done. He just wants everybody to show up for him,'” said Reddick.
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This has to be one of the greatest free agency sagas in the game’s history. Even though the Clippers could not win an NBA title, the team chemistry amongst those guys was heartwarming. The ‘Lob City’ Clippers was one of the most entertaining teams in the history of the NBA.
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