July 03--The day that the world found out DeAndre Jordan decided to leave the Clippers for the Dallas Mavericks, his good buddy and former Clippers teammate Blake Griffin was not at home sulking.
Instead the superstar power forward was taking batting practice with the Dodgers.
Jordan snubbed a five-year maximum deal for $108 million with the Clippers to play for Dallas, where he'd have a bigger offensive role not playing behind Griffin and Chris Paul. Jordan agreed to sign with the Mavericks on Friday for four years with a player option after the third.
The 26-year-old, who had played with the Clippers for his entire seven-season career, was impressed that Dallas star Dirk Nowitzki come off family vacation for a meeting in L.A. with Jordan. None of Jordan's Clippers teammates were present at his meeting with the team on Thursday.
Jordan and Griffin have long been good friends. They had a very playful relationship and would often make faces at each other or silly comments during interviews with reporters.
The center's departure is a big blow to the Clippers, who were on the verge of making the Western Conference finals for the first time in their 45-year existence this past season before they blew a 3-1 series lead to lose to the Houston Rockets in the second round.
This past season Jordan had career highs in points (11.5), field goal percentage (71%), and rebounds (15). He also had four 20-20 performances, in which he had at least 20 points and 20 rebounds.
