00:00What the hell is happening in Houston? Is this even legal?
00:05Like, not just in NBA terms, is this a hostage situation?
00:11Blake Griffin tweeted this image from DeAndre Jordan's house,
00:15presumably as a joke, but a small barricade is still a barricade.
00:19The information's coming in fast and loose and via emoji on the night before free agent signing,
00:25and all we can do is watch, speculate, consider calling the police,
00:30because what if we're all assuming someone else will do it?
00:32Or, if you're Michael Jordan, use the opportunity to throw in an unrelated brag.
00:38This night took over Twitter, threatened to shake up NBA contender status,
00:43and forced the league itself to rewrite the literal rulebook.
00:47The LA Clippers' attempt at an 11th hour free agent coup was a big deal.
00:55Okay, so let me run down what was going on in case this leaves too much open to interpretation.
01:02DeAndre Jordan, free agent, verbally agreed to leave the Clippers and sign with the Mavericks,
01:07which created a problem for the Clippers.
01:10They very much needed DeAndre Jordan on their team.
01:14It's hard for a team to lose their starting center, but it's a bit more detrimental for this team.
01:19Because these Clippers were good, and that was a first for the sad, sad Lakers shadow of a team
01:26named after a type of ship nobody has ever seen or heard of.
01:31These Lob City Clippers were fast, high-flying, fun, and for the first time, title contending.
01:37Okay, yes, they were coming off a season where they blew a 3-1 playoff series in a sort of horrific collapse,
01:44but, I mean, at least they had a 3-1 lead to blow.
01:48It's been worse.
01:49And, yeah, it ended their season, but it didn't shut their title window.
01:54So DeAndre Jordan said, let me get that for you.
01:57There you go, shut nice and tight.
01:59Why don't I lock it for you, too?
02:01Draw the curtains? Board it up?
02:03My point is, there's no championship window without DeAndre Jordan.
02:07Especially when you look at the Clippers' replacement prospects.
02:11But we'll get to that later.
02:12All in good time.
02:14DeAndre Jordan was a huge part of the new, actually good, fun-to-watch,
02:18yes, of course I've heard of a Clipper ship, and I think it's a great team name, Clippers.
02:22Jordan was the two-time reigning NBA rebound leader.
02:26He was coming off his most productive season, and fans loved him.
02:29He had a role to play in the offense and executed it with beauty and grace.
02:34Mesh that with size and power on the other end,
02:37and you've got a guy on his first all-NBA defensive team
02:40who also finished third in Defensive Player of the Year voting.
02:43A lot of people assumed DJ loved his life and wasn't going anywhere in free agency,
02:48including Clippers coach and GM Doc Rivers,
02:51who said just that when asked about Jordan's free agency at the end of the 2015 season.
02:56And thus, the Clippers did little to no wooing of DeAndre Jordan.
03:00How about that?
03:03Did DeAndre really love it in LA?
03:06The offense revolved around stars Chris Paul and Blake Griffin,
03:10to the extent that the starting center got, on average, less than one post-up per game.
03:16And sometimes Chris Paul yelled at him on TV.
03:18And wasn't super nice to him off TV.
03:22When the Mavericks of DeAndre's home state came calling with visions of him as the offensive centerpiece,
03:29with teammates who liked him, he was smitten.
03:32Chandler Parsons made himself a fast friend,
03:34and Dirk Nowitzki left vacation to eat dinner with him.
03:38So what if the Mavericks weren't title contenders?
03:41So what if the Mavericks couldn't offer him as much money as the Clippers?
03:44They made him an offer that validated his personal value.
03:48And the Clippers did not.
03:50They could have.
03:51Or they could have at least tried.
03:53But they did not.
03:54So DeAndre verbally committed to Dallas,
03:58and LA's failure to secure Jordan produced a
04:00that's-why-the-Clippers-can't-have-nice-things response from fans and media.
04:06Thus, on the eve of free agency signing period,
04:09the Clippers found themselves faced with a problem.
04:11They dropped from title contenders to the bottom half of the playoff picture,
04:16and they had no one to blame but themselves.
04:18And to solve that problem,
04:21the coach, stars, and owner descended on Jordan's house
04:24to convince him to back out of the Mavs deal.
04:27Was that really the best solution here?
04:31Would you believe me if I said yes?
04:33See, the Clippers were already over the projected salary cap.
04:37That would be fine if they signed DeAndre,
04:39because league rules allow teams to pay their own free agents over the cap,
04:43any amount, even a max salary.
04:45However, to get someone else's free agent,
04:48which they would need as a theoretical Jordan replacement,
04:50the Clips had few payroll options.
04:53It's a little confusing, even for me, a genius.
04:57But basically, the Clippers could offer somebody a minimum salary,
05:00or they could use the mid-level exception
05:02to offer about $5 million that season.
05:06Sounds like a lot of money.
05:07But in NBA terms, it wasn't enough.
05:10Even for the 2015 free agent pool,
05:13which was shallow and tepid.
05:15Who was available?
05:17Let's go to the board!
05:18The Clippers had actually already reached out to Amari Stoudemire,
05:23a power forward who would turn 33 that coming November.
05:27An All-Star four seasons ago,
05:29Stoudemire had been getting progressively worse
05:31and struggled with injuries.
05:33How about Costa Koufis,
05:35a Memphis backup who averaged five rebounds and five points per game,
05:39and who actually had already verbally agreed
05:41to go to the Kings for more money than the Clippers could offer him?
05:45Consider Kevin Serafin.
05:47Substitute on the Washington Wizards,
05:49he was just 25 and not bad in the low post with his jump hook.
05:53But was that a plus on a team that gave their previous center
05:56less than one post up per game?
05:58Defense is not young Kevin's strong suit,
06:00and he too would likely have to take a pay cut to join the Clippers.
06:04Have I mentioned JaVale McGee?
06:06Waived by the 76ers,
06:08he's been limited to 23 games last season,
06:10due to a leg injury that many say has caused him to lose athleticism.
06:14He was described as an interesting project for Doc Rivers.
06:18Could that project be completed in time for this year's playoffs?
06:22No.
06:23Now, the Clippers didn't have to rely on free agency
06:26to fill the DJ-sized hole in their lineup.
06:29They could trade Jamal Crawford, maybe?
06:33Or they could make Blake Griffin play center.
06:36At 6'9", he was now the tallest guy on their roster.
06:39All they'd have to do is revamp their offense
06:42to play small ball at all times.
06:44The Clippers surveyed the board and chose door number seven.
06:48And then they put a small barricade in front of that door
06:50to solve this thing by physically keeping Jordan for themselves.
06:54Because the fact of the matter was,
06:56DJ hadn't signed anything yet.
06:58Yes, on July 4th, 2015,
07:02news broke that Jordan had verbally agreed to sign with the Mavs.
07:06But he couldn't actually sign anything until July 9th.
07:10This weird limbo stretch of time
07:13when players can talk to new teams and agree,
07:15but not sign a contract,
07:17is called the moratorium period.
07:19It exists so that the NBA's math professionals
07:22can audit the year and set the salary cap.
07:24Hard to draw up a contract before the salary cap is set.
07:28So, July 8th,
07:30the night before free agents were allowed to sign contracts,
07:33Blake Griffin, Chris Paul, J.J. Reddick,
07:36Paul Pierce, Doc Rivers,
07:37and owner Steve Ballmer were like,
07:40hey, engaged ain't married.
07:42They went to his house,
07:43didn't include his agent,
07:44and didn't leave until DeAndre signed with them.
07:48Which he did just after midnight on July 9th.
07:51It was unprecedented.
07:53It broke several unwritten rules,
07:55mainly agents should be around for contract stuff,
07:58verbal agreements are agreements,
08:00and homes are for invited guests.
08:03Though later it was revealed to be less of a hostage situation
08:06and more friendly and calm,
08:08it was still an unheard of move,
08:10and from Dallas' point of view,
08:11still pretty fucked up.
08:13But you know the same.
08:15No fucked up stuff, no reward.
08:17The Clippers had eliminated their problem.
08:21Mission accomplished.
08:23Doc Rivers was regarded as the hero who saved the Clippers.
08:26They were reinstated as a threat to the defending champion Warriors.
08:30Sure, there was some blowback for their
08:33snaking of a player from another team.
08:37And D.J. himself,
08:38well, he went from being the prized big fish of free agency
08:42to a spineless sea slug,
08:45the most despised of all sea creatures.
08:47His apology to Maverick fans was not accepted.
08:52His character was called into question,
08:54which is what happens when you go back on your words so very publicly.
08:58But suddenly, his talent was up for debate, too.
09:02Maybe he flip-flopped because he knew he wasn't up to the task
09:05of being an offensive centerpiece.
09:07Maybe he was scared to try.
09:08A scorned Chandler Parsons suggested this theory,
09:12as did the trainer who'd worked with DeAndre his whole career.
09:17Kind of a damning source.
09:19But who cares about all that
09:20when you're about to challenge the Warriors for a title?
09:24About that.
09:26The Clippers were eliminated in the first round of the 2016 playoffs.
09:30Same with the 2017 playoffs.
09:33A lot of that was due to injury troubles,
09:35but that was still the end result.
09:38By the middle of 2018,
09:40Jordan was the only one of the big three left
09:42and the butt of the joke the Clippers had become.
09:46Even though he individually did pretty well.
09:50So, in the end,
09:52all this didn't matter?
09:55Like, sure, the Clippers would have probably been worse
09:57if they'd taken Kevin Serafin or had Blake Griffin at center,
10:01but the overall result would have been the same.
10:04I grew up in D.C. and in glorious 2005,
10:14the Wizards really did get celebratory second round of the playoffs T-shirts.
10:18My point is, the Clippers went nowhere despite their, for lack of a better term,
10:24off-season kidnapping spree.
10:27And the saga sort of got lost in the larger reputation of the Lob City Clippers.
10:31They never lived up to their potential.
10:33They blew a 3-1 lead.
10:34Yeah, they got a little weird and selfish and free agency,
10:38but what else were they supposed to do?
10:40You saw their options.
10:41Even DJ's reputation got repaired a bit.
10:44The Mavericks forgave him to an extent when he actually signed with them in 2018.
10:48So, was the DJ coup really a big deal?
10:54Yup, said the horribly embarrassed NBA.
10:57The league did not want to ever again look like a circus
11:00that allowed hostage-taking, agent barricading,
11:04and teams getting totally screwed over.
11:07But what could they do?
11:09Enact the DeAndre Jordan rule,
11:12shortening the moratorium period to four days
11:14and hoping that would be too little time for a circus to perform.
11:18The 11th-hour scramble changed professional basketball forever.
11:23Just not in the way the Clippers had imagined.
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