Mark Cuban Slams DeAndre Jordan for Ditching Mavs for Clippers

Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban went public with his frustration over DeAndre Jordan freezing him out when Jordan reneged on a verbal agreement to join his team.

Cuman wrote on Cyber Dust:

There will be a time when I detail everything I know regarding the last 48 hours. I don’t think the time is right to say anything beyond the facts that he never responded to me at all yesterday. Not once. To this minute I have not heard anything from him since Tuesday night. More importantly, I specifically told (Wesley Matthews) that I would not hold him to his commitment if he wanted to go elsewhere. I can’t print his exact response, but suffice to say he is excited to play for our Mavs:) Wes Matthews is exactly the kind of player we want in a Mavs uniform and our fans will love him. He will be in Dallas today so if you see him give him an MFFL welcome.

The Mavs thought they had Jordan tucked away last Friday, when he verbally committed to the team after Cuban and Chandler Parsons met with Jordan at his Los Angeles home. Matthews, Parsons, and Jordan had discussed the idea of playing together for the Mavericks in 2015-16; Matthews signed a four-year, $50 million deal with Dallas partially based on the prospect of playing with Jordan.

But on Monday, Jordan contacted Clippers coach and team president Doc Rivers, who promptly gathered owner Steve Ballmer, Chris Paul, Blake Griffin, J. J. Redick, and new Clipper Paul Pierce to join him in a meeting at Jordan’s Houston home on Wednesday night. They stayed with him through the night until the NBA moratorium ended and he could sign a four-year, $88 million deal at 12:01 a.m. Thursday.

Meanwhile, Cuban and Parsons, who had gotten wind of the situation, made repeated attempts to phone and text Jordan, but Jordan allegedly ignored them. Cuban had offered Jordan a four-year, $80-plus million deal. The Mavericks said they had been promised another meeting with Jordan, but that never materialized.

According to ESPN, Paul, whose often-frosty relationship with Jordan impelled the center to look elsewhere, told Jordan that he didn’t know Jordan had hard feelings toward him, adding that he thought they were “brothers.” He promised to make Jordan more prominent in the team’s offense.