DeAndre Jordan and Chris Paul have done their best to put any rumors and reports of a supposed rift to bed on multiple occasions.
Both players claim there are no issues that exist between them, but Jordan recently admitted for the first time that there was tension last season, but mostly created by the media.
“I think there was forced tension from the things we all heard about each other that wasn’t true at all,” Jordan said before the season. “It was just the outside (perception). We never asked each other about it.
“If I didn’t like Chris, I wouldn’t have signed here."
Dan Woike of The Orange County Register reported that there were tons of people on and around the team who noticed tension between Jordan and Paul at different times.
Most reports at the end of the season blamed Jordan’s rash signing with the Mavs on his disdain for Paul and his constant berating. Clippers coach Doc Rivers acknowledged that Paul has a tendency to do that.
“Chris studies it more than everybody. He watches it more than everybody,” Rivers told Woike. “The only thing I’ve told Chris is that you don’t have to be a play-by-play announcer during the game. Just play. You don’t have to tell them what they are and aren’t doing all time. It’s an amazing thing that he even knows.”
Anything other than a trip to the NBA Finals will bring back rumors of tension and the Clippers ultimate demise.
By Glenn Erby
