Before DeAndre Jordan Returns To Dallas, Let's Relive The Great Emoji War Of 2015
Bryan Altman, CBS Local Sports
It was all but over. DeAndre Jordan had agreed to a 4-year $80 million contract with the Dallas Mavericks and was poised to return home to Texas and headline the new look Dallas Mavericks on their road to get Dirk Nowitzki one last title before he calls it quits.
Then, the rumors began to fly. Squadrons of NBA players from both sides were converging around DeAndre's home in Houston making their sales pitch for the big man. Depending on who you believe, Mark Cuban was supposedly driving around frantically trying to find his new $80 million man before he was abducted by a cast of Clippers.
And then, the Emoji war began. Let's relive it as it occurred on the fateful day.
It started innocuously enough, with a simple tweet from the Mavericks' Chandler Parsons.
✈️
— Chandler Parsons (@ChandlerParsons) July 8, 2015
Then, J.J. Redick of the Clippers offered a retort.
Then, just about all hell broke loose.
JJ Redick lives in Austin, Texas and, as his twitter (@JJRedick) indicates, he's been mobilized to drive to Houston to join Rivers' group.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) July 8, 2015
✈️????????
— Blake Griffin (@blakegriffin23) July 8, 2015
According to most reports, Chris Paul was on vacation, but that didn't stop him from joining the fray.
????????
— Chris Paul (@CP3) July 8, 2015
After a while, the rest of the NBA caught on to what was happening and jumped in on the fun, even if they didn't necessarily have a horse in the DeAndre Jordan race.
Sheesh I see travel emojis everywhere on my timeline... What's going on lol
— Draymond Green (@Money23Green) July 8, 2015
Paul Pierce, who actually joined the Clippers this offseason, may or may not understand how Emoji's work.
— Paul Pierce (@paulpierce34) July 8, 2015
Then, the NBA champs made sure to steal back a little of that spotlight.
????????
— Marreese Speights (@Mospeights16) July 8, 2015
????
— Golden State Warriors (@warriors) July 8, 2015
Some Clippers, like Austin Rivers, showed up a little late to the party, but jumped right in anyway.
????.......????
— Austin Rivers (@AustinRivers25) July 8, 2015
But it was Michael Jordan's JumpMan23 Twitter account that laid down the Emoji trump card on everybody.
????????????????????????
— Jordan (@Jumpman23) July 8, 2015
????
— Jordan (@Jumpman23) July 8, 2015
And what would M.J. be without his trusty sidekick, Scotty Pippen.
Yeah, what MJ said... https://t.co/8zWY0ouR3X
— Scottie Pippen (@ScottiePippen) July 8, 2015
So needless to say, once M.J. did something, Kobe just HAD to jump in and do it, too.
Emoji battle?
— Kobe Bryant (@kobebryant) July 8, 2015
Ah ok .. I see .. ???????????????????????????????? #mambaout https://t.co/sdx5kpqWwY
— Kobe Bryant (@kobebryant) July 8, 2015
Now, as the day turned to night this thing changed from your typical Emoji war (don't ask what that means) to some Twitter guerrilla warfare tactics from Blake Griffin, who barricaded the door at Jordan's house.
Don't agree with the furniture layout but I'm not an interior designer. pic.twitter.com/23PNgQB88z
— Blake Griffin (@blakegriffin23) July 9, 2015
Multiple reports emerged that the Clippers refused to leave Jordan's house until he signed his contract with the team. Then, shortly after midnight, the winner of the great Emoji war of 2015 was finally revealed.
Home is where your ❤ is. #WelcomeHomeDJ pic.twitter.com/Ov0RoRKMDL
— LA Clippers (@LAClippers) July 9, 2015
But don't ask Chandler Parsons about it.
I thought I had a good pump fake.
— Chandler Parsons (@ChandlerParsons) July 9, 2015
Now, for the first time since this all went down, Jordan is slated to return to American Airlines arena in Dallas, Texas on Nov. 11.
The Mavericks have already thrown the first punch and endorsed an animated short called "The Frightened Man-Boy" about DeAndre Jordan, critiquing his indecision this past offseason, and it's actually pretty funny.
Besides that, fans have been waiting for the opportunity to boo Jordan for quite a while and some are already shelling out money for the opportunity to do so.
Ready to boo DeAndre Jordan on November 11th
— Chris (@RainManKTA) August 13, 2015
I spent $160 on two tickets just to boo Deandre Jordan. You think you like the Mavs?
— Matt (@MatthewDuell) November 8, 2015
However it goes down on Thursday night, at least we know that Mavericks owner Mark Cuban and Clippers owner Steve Ballmer have already kissed and made up.
https://vine.co/v/eY3VBg2BDQ7
Bryan Altman is, for some reason, an unabashed fan of the Rangers, Jets and Mets. If he absolutely had to pick a basketball team it would be the Knicks, but he'd gladly trade them for just one championship for either of his other three teams.
Questions or comments? Feel free to follow Bryan on Twitter or send him an email.