Chris Paul and DeAndre Jordan combined for easy baskets countless times with the Los Angeles Clippers. Despite that apparent chemistry, though, it sounds as if their relationship was rocky at best.
Jordan surprised some when he opted to leave the Clippers and sign with the Dallas Mavericks over the weekend. The big man had built quite a nice career as one of the primary inhabitants of L.A.’s “Lob City,” but reports indicate he was far from happy with the Clips, at least when it came to playing with Paul.
ESPN.com reported Monday morning that a lot of Jordan’s decision to leave the Clippers stemmed from a frayed relationship with Paul.
“He was tired of Paul’s constant barking and petty gestures, like distributing high-fives to the three other guys on the floor following a timeout but somehow freezing out Jordan,” ESPN.com’s Kevin Arnovitz wrote.
It became clear over the course of the recruiting process that the Mavericks wanted to sign Jordan much more than the Clippers wanted to retain him. According to the ESPN.com report, not a single Clippers player met with Jordan, whereas Dirk Nowitzki reportedly cut short a vacation to meet with his eventual new teammate. Meanwhile, Paul was busy vacationing in the Bahamas before eventually making “half-hearted attempts to reach out to Jordan,” per Arnovitz’s ESPN.com report.
