There have been some rumblings that one of the reasons — perhaps even the main reason — DeAndre Jordan verbally committed to the Dallas Mavericks was that his agent steered him in that direction. It would appear that Doc Rivers believes that was the case.
In a fantastic piece of reporting this week, Tim MacMahon and Ramona Shelburne of ESPN.com provided a behind-the-scenes look at how Jordan ended up re-signing with the Los Angeles Clippers. While it was fun to imagine the Clippers actually holding Jordan hostage in his own home, the big man reportedly had made up his mind by mid-afternoon and spent the rest of the evening hanging out with Rivers and some teammates until he could officially sign the new deal.
Jordan’s agents, Dan Fegan and Jarinn Akana, were not pleased. They, like Mark Cuban, were supposedly left in the dark all weekend by Jordan. After Fegan left Jordan’s house at around 9 p.m. on Wednesday, Akana and Rivers reportedly got into a “heated” argument.
Akana and Rivers had some heated words when he entered the house. Akana felt the whole thing had been unethical. Rivers felt Fegan and Akana were representing Cuban more than their client. Akana stayed, though. After Jordan signed a four-year contract with the Clippers, another toast was organized. This time, they drank champagne and white wine.
As we mentioned in this writeup, Fegan and Cuban are buddies. That probably explains where some of those story leaks came from about Jordan’s relationship with his teammates.
On one hand, you can see why Fegan and Akana would be upset. If Jordan was the one who committed to the Mavericks, he makes the entire camp look bad and could make future negotiations more difficult for his agents. But if Fegan nudged Jordan toward Dallas when the 6-foot-11 center didn’t want to leave L.A., the agent got what was coming to him.
Photo: Thomas B. Shea-USA TODAY Sports
