According to reports, the Dallas Mavericks have agreed to sign unrestricted free agent center DeAndre Jordan to a one-year contract worth $24.1 million. The contract cannot officially be signed until the end of the NBA’s moratorium period on July 7th – an important distinction in this case.
Marc Stein of The New York Times broke the news minutes after the beginning of the Free Agency period:
DeAndre Jordan and the Dallas Mavericks have verbally agreed on a one-year deal approaching the $24.1 million option with the Clippers for next season that Jordan relinquished Friday, according to league sources
— Marc Stein (@TheSteinLine) July 1, 2018
Dallas Mavericks Signs DeAndre Jordan to One-Year Contract
Jordan’s contract will take him through the end of the 2018-19 season.
Jordan averaged 12.0 points, 15.2 rebounds, and 0.9 blocks per game last season for the Los Angeles Clippers along with a career-high 58.0% from the free throw line. While this was still significantly below the 76.7% league average, it was still a dramatic improvement over his career average, which currently sits at 44.6%. Jordan caught some serious flak in his last free agency in 2015 for making a public verbal commitment to the Dallas Mavericks before his then-Clippers teammates (all of whom have since left) convinced him to return to L.A.
Looking forward, Jordan will provide a rebounding anchor as a starting center for Dallas. Though he doesn’t necessarily fit in with the new pace and space NBA (he has only made one three-pointer in his NBA career), the Texas native had both the second most dunks and rebounds of anyone in the league last year. He is now a valuable frontcourt threat to crash the glass and throw down potential alley-oops from Dennis Smith, Jr. and rookie Luka Doncic. The Mavericks will look for Jordan to become a reliable option to help them achieve a spot in the playoffs in the 2018-19 season.
Jordan is going into his 11th season in the league, during which he’ll be 30 years old. Since being drafted by Los Angeles in the second round in 2008, he’ll look to one day make it past the second round of the playoffs for his first time for Dallas.
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