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We all remember when DeAndre Jordan was going to Dallas right? Â 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. Â
According to ESPN’s Darren Rovell, the team broke league rules when the Clippers offered a sponsorship from the a third party. Â Allegedly, Jordan was offered a $200,000 endorsement deal with Lexus. Â The league prohibits any unauthorized business deals. Â 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. Â 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.
