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We all remember when DeAndre Jordan was going to Dallas right? Yeah, that didn’t last too long after Los Angeles “held the power forward hostage” in Houston and finally agreeing to a deal. Well before all that even happened, the Clippers allegedly made a pitch to Jordan to try and get him to re-sign with the team.
According to ESPN’s Darren Rovell, the team broke league rules when the Clippers offered a sponsorship from the a third party. Allegedly, Jordan was offered a $200,000 endorsement deal with Lexus. The league prohibits any unauthorized business deals. Sports Business Journal Liz Mullens explains the rule,
While the NBA’s investigation ultimately concluded that the presentation of this opportunity had no impact on Jordan’s decision to re-sign with the Clippers, the team’s conduct nevertheless violated the league’s anti-circumvention rules. The NBA’s anti-circumvention rules prohibit teams from, among other things, providing or arranging for others to provide any form of compensation to a player unless such compensation is included in a player contract or otherwise expressly permitted under the CBA.
The team was fined $250,000 for breaking this rule. The team can’t be too upset, however, since they got their star player back. The power forward signed a four year deal reportedly worth $88 million, similar to the deal he backed out of with Dallas.
