Cuban: Jordan situation is like 'makeup sex'
Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban compared DeAndre Jordan‘s return to the Los Angeles Clippers to “makeup sex” and said the only thing he would have done differently in the situation would have been having the center change his Twitter profile after he initially agreed to a four-year deal with the Mavs.
“When you have a situation like DeAndre, makeup sex is always the best sex, but after the makeup sex is over, you stare at that same face and realize the problems are the same,” Cuban told The Herd with Colin Cowherd on Wednesday. “It’s hard for free agents to get past that sometimes.”
After Jordan agreed to sign with the Mavericks, Cuban confirmed the deal and publicly commented on it, leading to a $25,000 league fine. Jordan never tweeted about the agreement, nor did he change his Twitter profile to reflect his decision. In hindsight, Cuban wishes he had.
“I think the only thing I would have done differently is make him change his Twitter profile picture right off the bat,” Cuban said. “I think by having it just stay the way that it was, it gave him an out. He hadn’t fully committed. Having him change his social media profiles right then was something I thought about and I thought, ‘Nah, that’s not an issue. Let’s not bring that up.’ But it happens. You move on. Next.”
When Cuban was asked what he learned from the Jordan situation, he said, “Nothing. In all types of business you have to understand the person you’re dealing with, and there are things about him that we didn’t know and gave him credit for that we probably shouldn’t have given him credit for. It was a decision he couldn’t stick to and it’s over. That’s just the way it works.”
On Tuesday, Richard Jefferson also had a change of heart after initially deciding to sign with Dallas, opting to join the Cleveland Cavaliers instead. Cuban said Jefferson called him, and he holds no resentment toward players who change their minds.
“People change their minds,” Cuban said. “I don’t have a problem with that. Richard Jefferson called me yesterday or the day before, and we had a long talk. He changed his mind. It made sense for both parties to say, ‘OK, let’s be friends.’ One of the things I’ve learned, and I learned it probably with Steve Nash: Life is a long, long, long time; basketball is a short career. It may be five, it may be 10, it may be, if you’re lucky, 15 years of your life, so you put things in context. From a Mavs standpoint, did it screw us up just because of the nature of free agency? I think we’ve recovered nicely so far, but it wasn’t optimal.”
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