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According to Marc Stein of the New York Times, the Dallas Mavericks are trying to execute a trade for DeAndre Jordan before free agency starts on July 1st.
Jordan has until the very last minute of Friday, June 29th to decide to opt in to his final year of his current contract with the Los Angeles Clippers, which owes him $24.1 million dollars. Should Jordan opt in, it’s believed any trade would center around sending Wesley Matthews back to the Clippers. If Jordan opts out of his current deal, it’s believed the Mavericks would pursue him in free agency.
There’s one additional option which seems unlikely, but possible at this point: after DeAndre Jordan opts into his final year, absorb the deal in an unbalanced trade, which is briefly legal during this time of year. It would involved waiting for the new cap year to take effect and a lot of cap juggling by letting go of some cap holds, but it’s possible. David Brandon of the Daily Thunder broke down the slim possibility here.
It’s beyond weird to be discussing DeAndre Jordan once again, but after trading for Luka Doncic, it seems anything is on the table with the 2018 NBA off season.