The storyline of this Summer’s NBA offseason has been the decision, or indecision depending how you look at it, of Los Angeles Clippers starting center DeAndre Jordan. Originally he had verbally agreed to a contract with the Dallas Mavericks so that he could team up and play with close friends Wesley Matthews and Chandler Parsons. However, as we all know, Jordan had a “change of heart” and decided to go back and re-sign with the Clippers on a max deal.
So what convinced the sky scraping big man to rejoin the Clippers? What changed his mind? As reports indicated during the Clips’ playoff run this past season, Jordan and star point guard Chris Paul may have had beef. That obviously factored into the first decision when he chose Dallas, seeing as he’d be more comfortable playing with his close friends as opposed to someone he supposedly had a rough relationship with in Paul. Los Angeles head coach Doc Rivers has stated many times how vital DeAndre is to their long term plans and how the rift between Paul and Jordan was way overblown. Many people didn’t believe what Rivers had to say and thought he was just doing whatever he could do to salvage the relationship between the two. But now, Chris Paul had something to say about the perceived rocky relationship. Following from Gary Washburn of the Boston Globe:
DeAndre, he’s like my big little brother. We talk a lot more than people realize. It doesn’t matter, the only thing that matters is we brought in Paul (Pierce), who I’m probably the happiest about because of his championship pedigree, being that voice in our locker room. We brought in Lance (Stephenson), Wes Johnson, brought Austin (Rivers) back, Josh Smith. Big summer for us.”
That interview should be a big step for the relationship between Paul and Jordan. If those two can get along, the Clippers should be Western Conference powerhouses yet again and anjoy a frutiful season that takes them deep into the postseason.
