Official: DeAndre Jordan re-signs with Los Angeles Clippers, despite verbal agreement with Dallas Mavericks

DeAndre Jordan’s move to re-sign with the Clippers after verbally agreeing to a deal with the Mavericks is sure to face a lot of backlash from the rest of the league.

Less than 5 days after free agent DeAndre Jordan agreed to a four year max contract with the Dallas Mavericks, he made a U-turn on his decision and re-signed with his former team the Los Angeles Clippers. The new deal between the Clips and DJ is expected to be around 84 million dollars for four years with an opt out after third year. The official twitter account of the Clippers made Jordan’s return official with this post:

The reason the Clippers could officially announce DJ’s return to Los Angeles was the recent conclusion of the NBA’s moratorium period. The 9 day period allows players and teams to enter oral agreements and discuss terma but neither party can make official statement. Any party making news official or talking about deals they’re not supposed to face penalities, like Mark Cuban learned recently.TNT reporter David Aldridge helps out with the official word on the moratorium period:

According to ESPN’s Ramona Shelburne, the Jordan/Mavs/Clips saga began when DJ contacted Black Griffin and Head Coach Doc Rivers on Monday. According to Adrian Wojnarowski, the Clippers contingent then travelled to Houston on Wednesday to meet with their All-NBA First team Defense center. The meeting was short between Jordan and the Clippers but the visiters refused to budge and began playing card games through the evening.

The Clippers coaches and players in Houston stayed till midnight Eastern time to make sure Jordan signs contract with the franchise. While the Clips stuck with Jordan all day and convinced him to sign with them, the Mavericks weren’t so lucky as attempts by owner Cuban and forward Chandler Parsons failed. This deal makes a huge difference to both teams, for the Clips having Jordan back along with their new recruits in free agency makes them serious title contenders. On the other hand without DJ, the Mavericks have to access their situation and plan ahead.

Reminder: The deal between the Clippers and Jordan can have a huge backlash and as ESPN’s Marc Stein tweets’ the moratorium period will never be the same. Despite there not being any official statement of the contract between Jordan and the Mavericks, the franchise felt they had his word and no doubt feel disrespected right now. Nonetheless, that didn’t stop the Clippers’ players from reacting to the new deal:

Paul Pierce:

Home is where your ? is. #WelcomeHomeDJ pic.twitter.com/Ov0RoRKMDL

— LA Clippers (@LAClippers) July 9, 2015

League rules, though, are clear: teams and players can not enter into oral agreements during the moratorium. They can only discuss terms.

— David Aldridge (@daldridgetnt) July 8, 2015

The Clipper players & coaches who are there stayed until it was done after midnight ET. Everybody hung out all night. Mavs never got mtg

— Ramona Shelburne (@ramonashelburne) July 9, 2015

That's why they brought me here lol pic.twitter.com/Z64Tkiyp01

— Paul Pierce (@paulpierce34) July 9, 2015