DeAndre Jordan and Chris Paul have addressed rumors about their supposed rift on multiple occasions, and both players claim there are no issues that exist between them. But recently, Jordan admitted for the first time that there was tension last season. He just doesn’t think it was his or Paul’s fault.
When all else fails, blame the media.
“I think there was forced tension from the things we all heard about each other that wasn’t true at all,” Jordan said before the season. “It was just the outside (perception). We never asked each other about it.”
Dan Woike of The Orange County Register notes that there were plenty of people on and around the team who noticed tension between Jordan and CP3. What is unclear is if the awkwardness — is that a good word for it? — led to Jordan’s infamous offseason flip-flop between the Mavericks and Clippers.
“If I didn’t like Chris, I wouldn’t have signed here,” Jordan said.
Many believe that Jordan and Paul smoothed things over when it looked like Jordan was going to sign with Dallas, which is why the big man changed his mind. As for the video that appeared to show CP3 berating Jordan last season, that was probably more of Paul getting carried away with telling people how to do their jobs.
Clippers coach Doc Rivers acknowledged that CP3 has a tendency to do that.
“Chris studies it more than everybody. He watches it more than everybody,” Rivers told Woike. “The only thing I’ve told Chris is that you don’t have to be a play-by-play announcer during the game. Just play. You don’t have to tell them what they are and aren’t doing all time. It’s an amazing thing that he even knows.”
Perhaps reports of tension — especially this hilarious one — were a media fabrication. But if the Clippers underachieve this season, the team had better be prepared for those same reports to come full circle. Not letting the media come between the team will be crucial to L.A.’s success.
