Sources: DeAndre Jordan 'leaning' toward return to Clippers
— -- 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 Wednesday afternoon that Jordan is increasingly "leaning" toward a return to the team that drafted him, with the Clippers indeed optimistic that he will stay in L.A.
Free agents are traditionally considered off-limits once they strike a verbal agreement with a team during the NBA's annual moratorium period, but sources said that Clippers coach/team president Doc Rivers and owner Steve Ballmer will meet with Jordan later Wednesday in Houston -- where Jordan has an offseason home -- in hopes of convincing him to walk from the four-year, $80-plus million max deal he committed to with the Mavericks and instead stay with L.A.
Clippers star guard Chris Paul also is expected to join that meeting after leaving his vacation, sources said. Fellow Clippers star Blake Griffin huddled with Jordan on Tuesday night.
Sources said Mavericks owner Mark Cuban, meanwhile, arrived in Houston earlier Wednesday as Dallas tries to fend off the Clippers' threat.
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.
Sources say that the Clippers, however, contend that they launched this last-ditch bid to keep Jordan only after he called Rivers on Monday and revealed having second thoughts about joining the Mavericks.
Sources told ESPN's Chris Broussard that Jordan has told people close to him since picking Dallas that he's still "torn" and "unsure" about his decision. 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, sources said.
Jordan informed both teams of his decision to join the Mavericks on Friday before flying to his offseason home in Houston. The Mavericks' hope was always to formally sign Jordan to his new contract Thursday at the first allowable minute.
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.
Related Stories
ABC News Live