The problems are stacking up for Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban, whom the NBA earlier this week for talking about free agent signings in public. Worse, his team lost center DeAndre Jordan, a free agent who verbally agreed to sign up with them last week but is now returning to the Los Angeles Clippers.
Cuban was fined $25,000 for publicly divulging information regarding his team's agreements with guard Wesley Matthews and Jordan.
Sources of ESPN's Marc Stein said the Mavericks were informed of the fine Tuesday.
Stein added in his report that Cuban talked about the signings in his Cyber Dust app and also had some interviews after Jordan committed to sign a four-year maximum deal worth more than $80 million with the Mavericks.
Cuban has been fined numerous times before under former NBA commissioner David Stern, and this was his first under current commissioner Adam Silver.
In the report, sources say Cuban was also fined $25,000 for a tweet, already deleted, that criticized the calls guard Monta Ellis was getting last March.
But that is not the biggest dilemma for the Mavs owner, as what could have been one of the biggest signings this free agency has turned out to be a bust. Stein said Cuban was already telling members of the Mavericks organization that Jordan was re-signing with Los Angeles.
Jordan was one of the most coveted free agents in the market when the free agency period began last July 1. A number of teams expressed their interest. Dallas' pitch made the big man commit to the team. But now Jordan reportedly re-signed with the Clippers as soon as the league lifted the moratorium on roster business and following a meeting with head coach Doc Rivers, owner Steve Ballmer and a number of his teammates.
Sources say the meeting did not last long and after that, Jordan played cards and video games with his teammates. Clippers power forward Blake Griffin tweeted a number of photos, including a chair blocking the door of Jordan's home, a joke directed at the Mavs.
Newly-acquired forward Paul Pierce also went to Twitter and posted a photo of what seemed like Jordan signing a contract.
