The Los Angeles Clippers’ road to re-signing DeAndre Jordan this summer was unorthordox to say the least.
There were the emoji-fueled “news” updates on Twitter. There was the bizarre scene of several members of the Clippers organization “camping out” at Jordan’s house to see him sign Los Angeles’ offer sheet. There was Jordan ignoring Mark Cuban to the point that Cuban was essentially forced to play the part of the jilted lover in the whole spectacle.
However, while all of the Clippers’ actions mentioned above were well within the NBA’s rules when it comes to free agency, the league did find that the team violated a pretty major (although not particularly entertaining) guideline. The team initially included a side endorsement offer to Jordan during their negotiations with the center, something that would have allowed the team to circumvent the salary cap in its negotiations with Jordan.
The offer of a side endorsement will cost the Clippers $250,000.
Clippers fined $250K for presenting side endorsement offer to DeAndre Jordan in free agency. Can't offer anything other than salary $.
— Darren Rovell (@darrenrovell) August 25, 2015
For what it’s worth, Jordan didn’t sign with the outside company that the Clippers dangled as an incentive.
Endorsement offer Clippers presented to DeAndre Jordan came before he went to Dallas, he also didn't sign with the company.
— Darren Rovell (@darrenrovell) August 25, 2015
