[ad_1]
When DeAndre Jordan signed with the Nets in 2019, he came as part of an overall deal with Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant, as the two megastars both agreed to contracts below the max to preserve cap space in order to that Brooklyn can add the old All-Center star.
Two years after the start of the four-year, $ 40 million deal he signed in Brooklyn, Jordan was traded to the Detroit Pistons and summarily waived, paving the way for his signing with the Los Angeles Lakers. Thursday.
As Jordan left one star list for another, the big man said unmoved that his relationship with the dynamic Nets duo soured as he stepped out of the door.
“We’re definitely not friends anymore, so…” Jordan joked with a warm laugh during his introductory video press conference Thursday.
He quickly ensured that the friendship of the trio was still intact. It’s his role with the Nets – who came to rely on Blake Griffin and Nicolas Claxton in the 5 last season before signing LaMarcus Aldridge and Paul Millsap to add to their front row rotation this summer – that has changed.
“We’re friends before basketball, after basketball and I think at the end of the day we all want to be happy,” Jordan said. “And being able to compete is something very important to me and they understand that. And we’re brothers beyond basketball, so being teammates or not isn’t going to reflect or affect our relationship.”
Jordan said his trade to Detroit, along with four second-round draft picks and $ 5.78 million, for Sekou Doumbouya and Jahlil Okafor, was the Nets organization working with him to help him find more. of opportunities. Jordan bought back $ 4 million from the Pistons and will earn the veteran Lakers’ minimum of $ 2.6 million, according to ESPN’s Bobby Marks.
“It was just that both sides wanted to find something that was best for both of us,” he said. “And I feel like they gave me that respect as a veteran player so that I could understand that I wanted to be able to compete.… It worked better for both of us.”
He will join a Lakers team that has its own first zone stock with Anthony Davis, Dwight Howard and Marc Gasol.
Jordan, 33, is the latest All-Star in his thirties to join a Lakers team already chock-full of players like LeBron James, Russell Westbrook, Carmelo Anthony, Rajon Rondo, Howard and Gasol.
Although he did not have the pre-existing personal ties to the Lakers squad he had with Durant and Irving, he admired many members of the team from afar.
“Just to be able to be with a team like this with guys you respect and guys you’ve faced against in the past – getting into my 14th season has been great to see,” I wonder what that would be like. play with this guy, “Jordan explained.” And you always think about it whether you tell people or not. “
Jordan will return to LA, where he spent the first 10 years of his career playing for the Clippers.
“Obviously as you get older you start to see different things and honestly with the Clippers teams that we had we had some bad luck,” Jordan said. “In the team I was on last year, we had a bit of bad luck with injuries and a few things like that. But you sure don’t want to take it for granted.… I’m so glad I can be. here and gel with these guys and build the chemistry and it’s going to be a process, but I think we’re all ready and excited for this. “
[ad_2]
Source link