DeAndre Jordan will remain a Clipper. This is after the Los Angeles Clippers franchise persuaded him to stay, amid reports that he agreed to sign with the Dallas Mavericks.
On Wednesday, a strong LAC force visited DJ at his house in Houston for a last-ditch effort to convince the bigman to re-sign with the team. Coach Doc Rivers, Clippers owner Steve Balmer, Chris Paul, Blake Griffin, Paul Pierce and JJ Redick were present in the hopes to change the Jordan's mind, reports Sports Illustrated.
And change his mind they did.
The 6'11 center will be staying with LA in the upcoming NBA 2015-16 season, even after it was revealed that Jordan will be transferring to Dallas and play alongside Chandler Parsons and Dirk Nowitzki. The free agent initially agreed in principle to transfer for an $80 million deal with the Mavs. It is to note though that the player has not yet signed a contract with Dallas yet.
"They played cards and video games. They stayed with Jordan until the official end of the NBA moratorium at midnight ET and saw his re-signing through to completion," Sports Illustrated explained.
Jordan will be receiving a maximum contract of $87.6 million for four seasons, with a player option after his third year and 15 percent "trade kicker", Yahoo! reports.
The Los Angeles Times initially reported that Jordan had second thoughts about transferring and even mentioned this to Coach Rivers.
Mavericks owner Mark Cuban tried to contact the 26-year-old athlete all throughout the afternoon but failed to get through. With the failed transaction, Yahoo! notes the team now has $20 million of salary cap space to spend on another worthy acquisition.