It’s been the free agency story that has taken over the world and, more specifically, the world of social media. Blake Griffin sent Twitter into a spiral after he tweeted a photo from, presumably, inside DeAndre Jordan’s home as reports surfaced that Los Angeles Clippers staff refused to leave until the free agent had resigned with the team.
Don’t agree with the furniture layout but I’m not an interior designer. http://t.co/23PNgQB88z
Jordan had previously verbally committed to a trade with the Dallas Mavericks earlier this week but recently changed his mind and was wavering between the two teams.
As the social media world continues to speculate on Griffin’s tweet and what it means to Jordan’s future career on the hardwood, here’s what you need to know about the pair and their friendship away from the game:
1. Griffin & Clippers Staff Are Reportedly Camped Out in Jordan’s House
Things got very interesting on Wednesday night after reports surfaced that Clippers brass, including Blake Griffin, were camped out at De’Andre Jordan’s house in a last-ditch attempt to make sure he returns to Los Angeles.
Clippers believe DJ is returning to LA but I’m told they are staying at his house until he can sign at midnight.
The idea, generally, is to keep anyone not related to the Clippers organization out of the house until midnight when he can re-sign with the team. That includes Mark Cuban and Jordan’s agent Dan Fegan. Yahoo’s Adrian Wojnarowksi tweeted the latest interesting tidbit:
So far, Clippers able to keep everyone else out of house, including Cuban, agents. Everyone. They’re in four-corners until midnight Eastern.
Wajnarowski had reported earlier on Wednesday that, in addition to Griffin, the Clippers also brought Paul Pierce and JJ Reddick to Houston to talk with Jordan.
2. Griffin Helped Spark an Emoji Rally Regarding Jordan’s Potential Trade
Twitter got a little weird on Wednesday afternoon as the NBA’s top players started tweeting out vaguely non-descriptive emoji tweets surrounding Jordan’s will-he-or-won’t-he trade. It all began with Chandler Parsons, Jordan’s maybe-teammate in Dallas, and JJ Redick, who had some strong words regarding his LA departure earlier this week, tweeted:
Griffin jumped in on the action around 2 p.m. with this hard-hitting tweet:
Let’s not forget Chris Paul, taking a moment away from the banana boat, who chipped in with this:
By the end of the day, the entire sports world had gotten in on the trend with the Golden State Warriors tweeting out a trophy emoji while Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant also added their own posts.
3. The Two Posted a Series of Videos on YouTube in 2011
As two of the more personable players in the NBA, it should be no surprise that Jordan and Griffin make for some fairly entertaining YouTube videos. The two first became friends when Jordan joined the Clippers as a second-round draft pick in 2008.
From there on out, Griffin was a mentor of sorts for Jordan, helping him hone his skills and rounding out his game. After the recent trend of hack-a-Jordan, Griffin has even been helping his teammate, his professional basketball teammate, practice free throws.
4. Jordan Said He Would ‘Protect’ Griffin on the Court After Hard Fouls
After constant rough play under the hoop started to rough up Blake Griffin, DeAndre Jordon vowed to protect his teammate if things went too far. He told ESPN:
I feel like people are intentionally trying to hurt him. It’ll all come back around. If Blake gets fouled, I can’t go punch someone in the nose. We can’t do that but throughout the course of a game, other fouls happen to other players on the opposite team and if they happen to be hard fouls, they happen to be hard fouls. We’re going to protect our teammates; it doesn’t matter who it is.
5. Griffin Wrapped Up His Night With One Last Tweet
Alright everybody goodnight! http://t.co/cME0rFR5LC
As the rest of the sports-reporting world was updating information on Jordan’s apparent return to Los Angeles, Griffin was still serving up some serious social media sass with one last tweet.
Griffin’s ‘goodnight’ post came at the perfect time as Yahoo’s Adrian Wojnarowski reported that Jordan and the Clippers met briefly as it was fairly clear that he was set on returning to the team.
Yahoo Source: Clippers, DeAndre Jordan meeting was short. It was clear he was returning to them. Then they started to play cards.
Meanwhile, Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban, who had been fined $25,000 for publicly confirming the Jordan deal ahead of its signing, was reportedly unable to speak with Jordan.
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DeAndre Jordan & Blake Griffin: 5 Fast Facts You Need to Know