Chandler Parsons Reveals Plane Emoji Tweet Last Summer Wasn’t About DeAndre Jordan

One of the highlights of NBA free agency this summer was the saga between big man DeAndre Jordan, the Dallas Mavericks and the Los Angeles Clippers. As DeAndre wavered in free agency, a plan was launched to keep DeAndre in the fold by both teams.

Dallas Mavericks forward Chandler Parsons was rumored to be the main guy recruiting Jordan to the Mavs. When he tweeted a plane emoji, fans took that as a sign that Parsons was on his way to Houston like members of the Clippers and Mark Cuban for Operation lock down DeAndre. His tweet kicked off an emoji war that had fans waiting on the outcome, and other players, teams and brands jumping into the fray.

But in a recent interview, Chandler revelaed that his tweet actually had nothing to do with DeAndre.

You know what’s funny? Actually, when I tweeted that plane emoji, I was leaving LA and going to Vegas for my girlfriend’s birthday. I wasn’t even going to Houston. I didn’t even think about it initially, then it started blowing up, and obviously the timing of it was perfect and then it just kind of took off with J.J. [Redick] tweeting the car and [Chris Paul] and everybody — I saw the Dodgers, the Warriors, Kobe, MJ, everybody started tweeting it so that was more funny than ever. At that point, it was already over and he was going back to the Clippers, so might as well make light of it.

But a real life beef has erupted as a result of those events from July. Just this week, Mark Cuban and Doc Rivers through shots at each other in the media.

First Doc Rivers had this to say about Cuban on The Herd with Colin Cowherd.

“To me, he acted very silly,” Rivers said during the appearance. “You know, look at the difference. I coached DJ. DJ didn’t call me when he left. Did you see me out in front of the cameras screaming and yelling and crying? I didn’t do that. I was disappointed. I was disappointed internally and I handled it that way. Mark tends to do things out in the open and that’s fine … when you take shots at DJ, the guy you loved two days ago, but now you don’t like so much anymore, I think basically what all that did is told DJ even more that he made the right choice.”

Rivers also said Jordan “decided to choose substance and character over smoke and mirrors.”

To which Mark responded that Doc basically had to save his professional career by retaining DeAndre:

“First of all, he obviously didn’t hear what I said, because I didn’t say a whole lot. I responded to DJ’s Twitter apology and that’s pretty much it. … The most interesting thing is, it shows what someone will do when their entire future is vanishing in front of them. And that’s exactly what Doc did, and I give him credit for it. His professional life was over if he didn’t get DJ.”

And on Friday during the Clippers media day, Doc suggested the two just have a cage battle.

“Listen, Mark’s an owner and I’m a coach,” Rivers said. “Unless we’re going to play one-on-one or get in a cage match — which you guys can all sponsor, I’m good with either one of those — I think it’s him talking and me talking and we’re both wasting time.”