By now, the entire DeAndre Jordan saga between the Mavericks and Clippers has been well-documented. Every single angle of the night that Jordan changed his mind for good has been dissected from every angle, including Mark Cuban’s, Blake Griffin’s, and every one in between.
At the center of the whole saga was the NBA’s resident party boy, Chandler Parsons. The Mavs swingman was essential in the pursuit of Jordan to Dallas, and was the primary reason the big man agreed to become a Maverick in the first place.
GQ‘s Alex Wong spent some time with Parsons to get a better look inside the mind of one of the NBA’s top recruiters. Although Parsons ultimately failed to bring Jordan to Dallas, the length at which he went to get him close goes far and above what most players would be willing to do to make their team better.
Playing his role as chief of recruiting, Parsons, who had knee surgery earlier this summer, flew himself to Los Angeles, found out who Jordan was working out with, and started working out with that person during his rehab. He had dinner with Jordan for five straight nights at one point. The recruiting process was described elsewhere as an “Entourage-style romp” through the hottest clubs and most exclusive nightspots in Los Angeles and Houston.
Considering the amount of work (although I’m sure there was plenty of partying, as well) he put into putting the full-court press on Jordan, it’s no surprise that Parsons told Wong he wanted to work in a front office when he retires. Although Dallas essentially struck out this offseason, and the prospect of them being a top-tier team in the near future seems unlikely, if anyone can lure free agents, it’s the combination of Parsons and Cuban. In fact, Parsons is already planting the seeds for his pursuits next offseason.
Without prompting, he starts listing off the free-agents list for 2016, including fellow Gators alumni Joakim Noah and Al Horford. He points out that Kevin Durant is now with his former college coach, Billy Donovan, listing off another connection that he has. “It’ll be an interesting summer next year,” says Parsons, who, though he once thought about a post-NBA career in broadcasting, now wants to be a general manager when he retires. “I’m locked in, man. I want championships.”
Regarding Jordan, Parsons says that the two are still friends and have spoken several times since the saga, but admits their friendship “isn’t the same as it once was.” Parsons has had select words for Jordan in the media before, and shared his thoughts once again on Jordan when asked by Wong.
“He didn’t do anything illegal. I’m not mad at him. At the end of the day, he’s a grown man and he’s entitled to do whatever he wants,” Parsons says. “He’s one of the best young centers in the NBA, and I wanted to play with him. He could have made us great. But he screwed us over.”
Parsons is not wrong about that. By the time Jordan had completed his flip-flop, the Mavs were left with a bare cupboard of big men to work with in free agency. They scrambled together to add Deron Williams, managed to keep their deal with Wesley Matthews and also re-signed J.J. Barea, but in terms of their big men, Dallas is forced to throw out the sad-face-emoji combination of Zaza Pachulia, Samuel Dalembert, and JaVale McGee to replace Tyson Chandler.
How you feel about Jordan’s move is probably determined by which side of the fence you’re on. If you’re a Clippers fan, you note that Jordan didn’t do anything wrong, and that he never signed anything official before changing his mind. If you’re a Mavs fan, you note that going back on a verbal agreement like that is a slippery slope and essentially screws over an entire franchise for the foreseeable future because of a technicality.
Regardless, the end result is the Clippers remaining legitimate title contenders, while the Mavericks are forced to pick up the pieces and try to scrap together a run at a low playoff seed in the West. As good as Parsons is on the court, he’ll need to be 10-times better off of it next offseason if he’s going to turn the Mavs back into title contenders.
(Via GQ)
