The Dallas Mavericks are understandably furious with DeAndre Jordan for his last-minute change of heart, and Chandler Parsons is calling out the big fella in the media.
Parsons, the Mavs’ self-appointed lead free agency recruiter, was excited to team up with “the best center in the NBA”, and now says Jordan was too shook to take on the challenge of being The Man in Dallas.
DeAndre stunned the Mavs by backing out of their verbal agreement, and returned to the LA Clippers on a four-year, $88 million deal.
Per ESPN:
“This is something that I’ve never seen in my career, and I know that it doesn’t happen very often,” Parsons said Thursday. “When a man gives you his word and an organization his word, especially when that organization put in so much effort and I walked him through this process and was very, very open and willing to work with him, it’s just very unethical and disrespectful.”
Jordan made his initial decision to sign with Dallas instead of staying with the Clippers last Friday morning, informing Mavs owner Mark Cuban and Parsons at his home in suburban Los Angeles. Parsons first learned Monday from Cuban that Jordan might be having second thoughts. […] Jordan confirmed to Parsons via a text message that “something in my heart is telling me to meet with them again” on Tuesday, and Jordan welcomed a Clippers contingent that included owner Steve Ballmer, head coach/team president Doc Rivers and players Chris Paul, Blake Griffin, J.J. Redick and Paul Pierce to his Houston home on Wednesday afternoon.
“He wasn’t ready to be a franchise player. He was scared,” Parsons said. “He was scared to take the next step in his career. There was no other reason other than that he was comfortable and he has friendships there. How you make a business decision like that is beyond me. How you ignore an owner like Mark who is in your hometown just waiting for a chance to talk to you is beyond me. […] I don’t think he made a mistake. I think he’ll be good in L.A. He’s got a good team, he’s got a great point guard, he’s got Blake, but I think he could have been a superstar in Dallas. He could have been the man in Dallas. Never in a million years did I think that this was even a possibility. I’ll still be friends with him, but I can’t get over the way that he’s put our entire franchise in jeopardy. It’s normal to get cold feet. It’s normal to get second thoughts, but you don’t back out of a commitment of this much magnitude this late in the game and just leave us high and dry.”
