Clips to meet with DeAndre Jordan, want center to back away from Mavs deal

— -- The Los Angeles Clippers are trying to persuade  DeAndre Jordan to reconsider his decision to sign with the Mavericks after Jordan verbally committed to join Dallas last week, according to league sources.

Sources said Jordan is "leaning" toward a return to the Clippers but called the situation fluid.

Free agents are traditionally considered off-limits once they strike a verbal agreement with a team during the NBA's annual moratorium period. Sources, though, told ESPN's Ramona Shelburne that Clippers coach and team president Doc Rivers, owner Steve Ballmer and star player Chris Paul were flying on Ballmer's plane to Houston on Wednesday to meet with Jordan and are "hopeful" he will walk away from the  four-year, $80-plus million max deal he committed to with the Mavericks and instead stay with L.A.

Sources say Mavericks owner Mark Cuban arrived in Houston earlier Wednesday as he tries to fend off the Clippers' threat.

Sources told ESPN's Chris Broussard that Jordan has told people close to him since picking Dallas last week that he's still "torn" and "unsure" about his decision. On Monday, Jordan called Rivers when he started having second thoughts about the move, sources said.

In recent days, some Clippers players also have been in contact with Jordan, sources said. Griffin huddled with him Tuesday night, according to sources, and Paul -- whose reportedly strained relationship with Jordan has been pinpointed as a factor in the center's initial decision to take Dallas' offer -- has been among those pushing hardest in recent days for Jordan to change his mind.

Jordan informed both teams of his decision to join the Mavericks on Friday before flying to his offseason home in Houston.

Thursday is the first day that teams and players can formally sign contracts once the moratorium is lifted. Sources say the Clippers, since Jordan's return to Houston, have been bypassing his representatives from Relativity Sports and have been urging him to take their offer instead while there's still time.

The NBA's moratorium period at the start of July every year is designed to allow the league to calculate the precise new salary cap and luxury-tax figures for the coming season. But teams and players are allowed to come to verbal agreements during the moratorium starting July 1. The first seven days of 2015 free agency produced a frenzy that has seen roughly 70 free agents come to terms on new contracts.