DeAndre Jordan Was Sick of Chris Paul's "constant barking and petty gestures"

DeAndre Jordan left the Clippers for the Mavs yesterday. The narrative for the reasoning behind the choice is emerging. Via ESPN’s Kevin Arnovitz:

"He was tired of Paul’s constant barking and petty gestures, like distributing high-fives to the three other guys on the floor following a timeout but somehow freezing out Jordan. Optics aside, the biggest issue for Jordan was that, despite the leaps and bounds he made to be named first team all-defense, the Clippers always treated him like the player he was when he arrived in the NBA, and never like the player he’d become."

Apparently Chris Paul was also lukewarm in his efforts of trying to get Jordan to stay in Los Angeles. However, the desire for more offensive touches was, by multiple accounts, a major factor.

Nevertheless, Doc Rivers’ quotes from late May are amusing in retrospect:

"“I can put this to rest: They get along great,” Rivers told Fred Roggin of The Beast 980 on Thursday. “Clearly, like everybody, they don’t get along all the time, and they don’t get along with me all the time, either, by the way. I don’t see that as an issue. I think all three, and I’m including Blake in this as well, understand how important the other guy is to them. Meaning, they all three need each other to win, and I think all three get that and all three know that and all three want to do it together. To me, that’s the most important thing.”"

That obviously didn’t wind up being the case.