How a big one got away
The free-agent odyssey of Clippers center DeAndre Jordan began innocently enough in Houston. A drained Clippers coach Doc Rivers, coming off a Game 7 loss to the Rockets in the Western Conference semifinals after leading the series 3-1, was asked about retaining his center. “Can you tamper with your own guy?” Rivers asked from the podium at Toyota Center. “If that’s true, I want to go tamper right now.”
But when free agency officially began last week, Jordan appeared headed back to Texas, where he played in high school at Christian Life Center in Humble and in college at Texas A&M. After meetings with the Mavericks, Lakers, Knicks and Clippers, Jordan agreed to a four-year, $80 million deal with Dallas last week but couldn’t sign until 11:01 p.m. Wednesday because of NBA rules.
But by Monday, Jordan was wavering. By Wednesday, a Clippers caravan headed to his Houston home to lure him back.
It created a full day (and more) of Twitter fun and emojis before he finally signed to stay in Los Angeles.
The highlights from a Wacky Wednesday into Thursday:
1:02 p.m.
Amid speculation Jordan is considering changing his mind, the Mavs’ Chandler Parsons tweets an emoji of an airplane, indicating he is ready to go to Jordan’s home in Houston to re-recruit him.
1:22 p.m.
Clippers forward Blake Griffin tweets an emoji of an airplane, helicopter and car, indicating his travel plans from a vacation in Hawaii to Houston.
2:12 p.m.
New Clipper Paul Pierce, perhaps not understanding how to post an emoji, tweets a faded photo of a rocket, as if that’s how much of a hurry he was in to get to Houston.
Late afternoon
9:52 p.m.
ESPN’s Chris Broussard tweets that Mavs owner Mark Cuban “is beside himself,” driving around downtown Houston begging Jordan’s family (through texts) for the address to DeAndre’s home.
11:10 p.m.
Redick, who in a Bleacher Report interview had given the Clippers an F-minus in free agency after it appeared Jordan would defect, tweets an A+. The father of an 11-month-old also tweets emojis of a car, an arrow, a house and Z’s to represent that he was going home to sleep.
11:28 p.m.
Paul quotes Edgar Allan Poe on Twitter and Instagram: “Believe half of what you see and nothing that you hear.”
Thursday morning
Cuban responds to Broussard, who stood by his reporting, via Twitter: “How about this. You post any proof I was calling/texting his friends asking anything I give 100K to charity of yr choice.” Cuban also takes to his social media platform Cyber Dust to address Mavericks fans. “Dear Mavs fans, There will be a time I detail everything I know regarding the last 48 hours. I don’t think it’s right to say anything beyond the facts that he never responded to me at all yesterday. Not once. I have not heard anything from him since Tuesday night. …”
1:11 p.m.
Clippers guard J.J. Redick, who lives in Austin, responds on Twitter with an emoji of a car, indicating he is ready to drive to Houston to persuade Jordan to remain a Clipper.
1:39 p.m.
Clippers guard Chris Paul, whose rift with Jordan reportedly was the reason the center was open to talks with other teams, is returning to L.A. from a vacation in the Bahamas. He changes his itinerary to come to Houston, sending out an emoji of a banana boat.
3:31 p.m.-4:19 p.m.
Other athletes chime in with emojis. Kobe Bryant tweets five trophies but is outdone by Michael Jordan, who tweets six trophies and a goat, presumably to signify Greatest Of All Time.
8:49 p.m.
As Twitter explodes with jokes about the Clippers holding Jordan hostage, Griffin posts a photo of a chair blocking a door. “Don’t agree with the furniture layout, but I am not an interior designer.”
11:05 p.m
Five minutes after Jordan is allowed to sign, the official Clippers Twitter account tweets a photo of Jordan with the words, “We’re officially centered. #welcomehomeDJ.” The tweet also says, “Home is where the heart is,” with an emoji heart in place of the word.
11:18 p.m.
Pierce, apparently now schooled in the use of emojis, sends out one of a smiley face and another of a bottle of champagne. He follows with a photo of himself watching Jordan sign his deal.
Thursday afternoon
Parsons tells ESPN.com that Jordan’s aboutface was “very unethical and disrespectful” and that he “wasn’t ready to be a franchise player. He was scared.”