Top free agent DeAndre Jordan re-signed with the Clippers after teammates camped out at his house to block Mark Cuban from talking to him
The Los Angeles Clippers have re-signed free agent DeAndre Jordan to a four-year contract, according to widespread reports.
The signing comes just five days after Jordan verbally committed to the Dallas Mavericks and just hours after several members of the Clippers organization came to his home in Houston and didn't to leave until the contract was signed.
In the last 24 hours before the NBA's moratorium on signing free agents was lifted, the tide seemed to shift with an 11th hour play by the Clippers to get Jordan to change his mind. The move seemed to work as Jordan agreed to meet with coach and general manager Doc Rivers and several Clippers players at his home.
Things got weird in the closing hours as a contingent of Clippers, including owner Steve Ballmer, coach Doc Rivers, and players Blake Griffin, Chris Paul, and Paul Pierce decided they were not going to leave Jordan's home until his new contract was signed at 12:01 a.m eastern, according to Ramona Shelburne of ESPN.
According to Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports, Jordan refused to meet with Mark Cuban. ESPN's Tim MacMahon added that Jordan wouldn't even take phone calls from Cuban or Chandler Parsons, who was heavily involved in recruiting Jordan.
According to Chris Broussard of ESPN, Cuban was driving around trying to find Jordan's house"begging" Jordan's family for the address via text messages.
Things got so weird that Blake Griffin posted a picture of a chair blocking the front door.
However, shortly after midnight, any fears the Clippers had went away as Paul Pierce posted a photo of Griffin signing his new contract to stay with the Clippers.
Shelburne later added that Jordan told one teammate that he felt that his agent, Dan Fegan, had "pushed [Jordan] to Dallas" and later changed his mind. Fegan was not present at Jordan's house when he signed the contract and instead had the contract certified by another representative from the agency.