DeAndre Jordan has ‘rubbed teammates the wrong way’ per report

With all the content available to us on the internet these days, it’s perfectly reasonable if you happened to miss this little nugget from ESPN’s Tim MacMahon in the weekly ESPN Power Rankings:

Don’t be deceived by DeAndre Jordan’s solid statistics. He has been a major disappointment for the Mavs. He has rubbed teammates the wrong way with what they perceive as selfish play, the most blatant example being when he stole an uncontested rebound from Luka Doncic by putting his forearm in the prized rookie’s back and tipping the ball away. Jordan’s disinterest in playing help defense has been a big problem as Mavs opponents light up the scoreboard.

Guys, this is getting ridiculous.

At this point I have to believe that Tyson Chandler put a curse on the center position following the 2010-2011 title season, like Voldemort put a curse on the Defense Against the Dark Arts post at Hogwarts when Dumbledore denied him. Don’t believe me? Take a walk down memory lane with me with guys who were supposed to fill the role:

• 2011-2012 - Brendan Haywood
• 2012-2013 - Chris Kaman
• 2013-2014 - Samuel Dalembert
• 2014-2015 - Tyson Chandler
• 2015-2016 - Zaza Pachulia
• 2016-2017 - Andrew Bogut
• 2017-2018 - Nerlens Noel
• 2018-2019 - DeAndre Jordan

There’s not much to say about this, really. It’s not shocking and it’s extremely disappointing. If you’ve watched games with a discerning eye, it’s clear that Jordan is not trying hard on defense, assist hunting on offense, and has continued his long practice of rebound stealing.

The Mavericks were supposed to be better than this and Jordan is a key reason why they aren’t. Perhaps things will round into form as the season progresses, but Jordan has not given fans much reason to hope that this will be anything but a short term plan.