Clippers’ DeAndre Jordan writes of change of heart about joining Dallas

DeAndre Jordan detailed his decision to back out of a commitment to the Dallas Mavericks on the Players’ Tribune website late Monday night, writing that he “struggled” with the choice that ultimately led him to stay with the Clippers.

“It was nine or 10 days of intense pressure,” Jordan wrote of the free-agency moratorium period in which players can be wooed by teams but cannot sign with them. “Every night I would have a different scenario in my head, of the city and team where I thought I would fit best. I had several meetings with teams and even more conversations with my family and friends. I kept thinking about what it really meant to be ‘home’ and I would go back and forth.”

Jordan said in a video accompanying the story that he originally committed to Dallas because he believed he needed change before waking up July 6 “feeling like there was something missing, something I didn’t do, something that was not covered, and that’s when I started ... to have second thoughts.”

Jordan, who eventually re-signed with the Clippers for four years and $87.6 million, also addressed the widely reported rift between himself and teammate Chris Paul as part of the article headlined “Getting It Right.”

“I love Chris, man,” Jordan wrote. “Chris is a big brother to me. When you play sports, you’re competitive — especially when you play them at as high a level as we have these last few years. And of course, yeah, we all bump heads during the course of the game. But we know that whatever criticisms or arguments we have on the floor, they’re about one thing: winning.”

In a separate article for the Players’ Tribune, Clippers forward Blake Griffin wrote about the players and team executives who traveled to Houston, Jordan’s hometown, after Jordan expressed second thoughts about his commitment to the Mavericks.

“My intention wasn’t to go down and sell DeAndre on the Clippers,” Griffin wrote. “We promised each other a long time ago that we’d never do that stuff. I just wanted to be there for my friend and hear him out.”

Jordan seemed “happy for the first time in a while,” Griffin wrote, when he signed with the Clippers.

“I was like, ‘Welp, that was crazy,’” Griffin wrote of what he told Jordan. “‘At least now you know how much I love you. I ran through LAX like an insane person for you, bro. Let us never speak of it again.’”

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