The core of the team had been together for more than three years, and tempers were wearing thin. Jordan and Chris Paul had gotten into it more than once, which led Jordan to start seriously contemplating what it might be like to play elsewhere in 2015-16.
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
Yet when the recruiting process got underway, the Clippers were off-key. Jordan gave the Clippers the first shot at choosing a time slot, according to sources, but scheduling the meeting was a chore.
The Clippers came in and told Jordan he was central to their team success, but in contrast to the other suitors, their message was shrouded in ambiguity. The marketing piece from president of business operations Gillian Zucker was compelling, but the basketball pitch offered few of the particulars he saw in the other meetings. Still, that wasn't the biggest beef.
the Clippers' primary rival for Jordan, the Mavericks, couldn't do enough to convey their desire for Jordan. Nowitzki interrupted his vacation to fly to Los Angeles to join Chandler Parsons to take Jordan out. Mark Cuban and Rick Carlisle wined and dined him
Paul was off in the Bahamas with LeBron James and Carmelo Anthony. Paul made only half-hearted attempts to reach out to Jordan late in the process, according to sources close to the process.