Five years to the day of LeBron James infamous "The Decision," came the wildest day in NBA offseason history on Wednesday.
After verbally agreeing to sign with the Dallas Mavericks last Friday, Free agent center DeAndre Jordan changed course, opting to instead re-sign with the Los Angeles Clippers on a day that will forever be known as "The Indecision."
According to reports, Jordan reached out to friend and teammate Blake Griffin on Monday to tell him he was having second thoughts about his decision to sign with the Mavericks. Griffin told Jordan to contact Clippers head coach and President Doc Rivers who with owner Steve Ballmer and a contingency of players flew to Houston on Wednesday to persuade their star center to return to LA.
After a short meeting with Rivers, Ballmer, Griffin, Chris Paul, J.J. Redick and Paul Pierce, Jordan essentially froze out Mavericks owner Mark Cuban, his agent, and lead recruiter Chandler Parsons until the clock reached midnight Eastern Time.
According to sources, Jordan and teammates played cards, video games and ordered take out while they waited for the clock to strike midnight. The Clippers group stayed in Jordan's Houston home until 12:01 A.M EST when they could officially re-sign the runner-up for NBA's Defensive Player of the Year to a four-year contract.
That's why they brought me here lol pic.twitter.com/Z64Tkiyp01 — Paul Pierce (@paulpierce34) July 9, 2015
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The deal is worth $87.6 million over four years with a player option after the third season. The contract also includes a 15 percent trade kicker. Jordan originally had agreed to a four-year $80 million deal with the Mavericks on July 3rd, but apparently second-guessed his decision, telling those close to him that he had been persuaded to sign with the Mavericks at the behest of his agent Dan Fegan, a close personal friend of Cuban's.
The bizarre chain of events kicked off on Monday night when Jordan apparently contacted Griffin and Rivers to tell them he made a mistake. Rivers reached out to various players to help him fly to Houston to convince Jordan to return to the Clippers.
This set off an odd "Emoji battle" on Twitter as Parsons, Redick, Griffin, Paul, Pierce and more all began to tweet hilarious emojis of their quick pursuit of Jordan.
✈️ — Chandler Parsons (@ChandlerParsons) July 8, 2015
�� — JJ Redick (@JJRedick) July 8, 2015
✈️���� — Blake Griffin (@blakegriffin32) July 8, 2015
���� — Chris Paul (@CP3) July 8, 2015
pic.twitter.com/SIyHJjDScR — Paul Pierce (@paulpierce34) July 8, 2015
�� — Mike Woodson (@MikeWoodsonNBA) July 8, 2015
Even Kobe Bryant and Michael Jordan got in on the Emoji action:
Ah ok .. I see .. ���������������� #mambaout https://t.co/sdx5kpqWwY — Kobe Bryant (@kobebryant) July 8, 2015
������������ — Jordan (@Jumpman23) July 8, 2015
�� — Jordan (@Jumpman23) July 8, 2015
The emoji battle finally came to an end when Redick presumably left Jordan's home, giving the Clippers a free agency grade of an A+ before driving home to go to sleep. Thus ending a 24-hour long saga that ended with a player returning to play for the team he's played for his whole life, and the NBA free agency moratorium will never be the same again.
��+...��➡️��...���� — JJ Redick (@JJRedick) July 9, 2015
