Rivers jabs back at Cuban: Jordan chose 'substance' over 'smoke and mirrors'
Contractually, the DeAndre Jordan saga of this offseason is long settled. But the rivalry between the Dallas Mavericks and Los Angeles Clippers might never fade at this rate.
Mavericks owner Mark Cuban and Clippers coach (and general manager) Doc Rivers have been taking shots at each other in the media. Rivers told Colin Cowherd on "The Herd" earlier this month that Cuban "acted very silly" during the free agency situation. On Tuesday, Cuban had a chance to respond, voicing his opinion that Rivers' professional career was over if he hadn't managed to lure Jordan back, which is why he was making comments in Cuban's direction.
On Thursday, Rivers was once again on the offensive, telling Dan Woike of the Orange County Register:
"I’ll say this. I’m so grateful to work for a team owned by Steve Ballmer, someone who stands for character and substance and who is so loyal,” Rivers said. “He is someone who I know will stand with me, even when things aren’t always going our way. I think what happened with D.J. was he decided to choose substance and character over smoke and mirrors."
There's nothing particularly veiled about those references from Rivers. When you mention how great your team's owner is and how loyal he is, it's not difficult to read between the lines on the comparison.
Now, one big question has been raised: Will Cuban respond to Rivers' response to Cuban's response to Rivers' original comments? With meaningful games more than a month away, this is a nice preliminary warmup to the on-court competition.
(h/t OC Register)
