Redick calls Jordan saga 'the best day on Twitter, maybe ever', suggests 'date' was dinner with Griffin
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This past Tuesday, Los Angeles Clippers guard J.J. Redick said on a podcast he gave his team an "F-minus" for its offseason, one in which they appeared on the verge of losing DeAndre Jordan.
The interview was recorded on Monday, before Redick became aware that Jordan was deep in the throes of second thoughts about joining the Dallas Mavericks.
That's one of the takeaways from Redick's appearance on Zach Lowe's podcast Friday, where he broke down how all hell broke loose on Wednesday.
The veteran perimeter threat said he was notified of Jordan's doubts Tuesday by Clippers coach Doc Rivers. Meanwhile in Houston, Jordan was out for dinner with teammate Blake Griffin, according to Redick.
That would have been the "date" that Mavs owner Mark Cuban was referring to.
The next morning Redick was in his car, driving from his home in Austin to Houston, where Jordan lives and the crew of Clippers were congregating. When he arrived at a hotel there, the story had just broke on Twitter.
"(I'm) scrolling through my timeline and I saw a plane emoji," Redick told Lowe. "You know, Chandler Parsons to the rescue, 'Yay'. And I'm just like, I'm going to tweet out a car."
And so began the great NBA emoji war of 2015.
But while NBA Twitter either laughed or cringed, business had to be done. And Redick confirms, as other reports have, that the business side was short.
We all met at the hotel, we head over to DeAndre's. The rest is basically what's been put on Twitter with, of course, less drama. It was a meeting ... less a pitch and more just team building. Very short meeting ... Doc was like, 'DeAndre, we're staying until 11:01 (central time) when you can sign a contract.' DeAndre said, 'Cool, let's get some food.'
Then they commenced playing spades on the kitchen table.
Redick says Jordan's heart was always in Los Angeles.
"Our meeting was very serious. DeAndre's decision was very serious," Redick said.
"Having said that, Wednesday was the best day on Twitter, maybe ever."
With Jordan in the bag, Redick said he left earlier than the rest of the group to begin his two-and-a-half hour drive back to Austin. However, he was "so amped" he missed his turn off I-10 onto state route 71.
"I was in San Antonio," Redick said. "I had driven an hour and a half out of the way."
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