Parsons, who led the team’s recruiting campaign for DeAndre Jordan, described himself as “shocked, very disappointed, frustrated, disrespected” that the big man reneged on his verbal commitment to join the Dallas Mavericks and re-signed with the Los Angeles Clippers.
“This is something that I’ve never seen in my career, and I know that it doesn’t happen very often,” Parsons told ESPN.com on Thursday. “When a man gives you his word and an organization his word, especially when that organization put in so much effort and I walked him through this process and was very, very open and willing to work with him, it’s just very unethical and disrespectful.”
Jordan made his initial decision to sign with Dallas instead of staying with the Clippers last Friday morning, yet took several days to inform the Mavs that he was having second thoughts.
Parsons then ripped Jordan, questioning whether or not he was ready to be a superstar.
“He wasn’t ready to be a franchise player. He was scared,” Parsons said. “He was scared to take the next step in his career. There was no other reason other than that he was comfortable and he has friendships there. How you make a business decision like that is beyond me. How you ignore an owner like Mark who is in your hometown just waiting for a chance to talk to you is beyond me.
“I don’t think he made a mistake. I think he’ll be good in L.A. He’s got a good team, he’s got a great point guard, he’s got Blake, but I think he could have been a superstar in Dallas. He could have been the man in Dallas. Never in a million years did I think that this was even a possibility.
“I’ll still be friends with him, but I can’t get over the way that he’s put our entire franchise in jeopardy. It’s normal to get cold feet. It’s normal to get second thoughts, but you don’t back out of a commitment of this much magnitude this late in the game and just leave us high and dry.”
By Glenn Erby
