DeAndre Jordan worked his way back to Clippers by snapchatting Doc Rivers’ son

The Clippers clearly like Austin Rivers.

They re-signed him with a starting salary that was probably the most they could have given him (though I argue that rule shouldn’t have applied).

But he might not even be the most valuable of Doc Rivers’ sons to the Clippers.

That honor could go to the one who helped the Clippers save their summer by retaining DeAndre Jordan, who initially committed to the Mavericks.

Rivers, via Justin Barrasso of Sports Illustrated:

“DeAndre thought about leaving, but right away, he knew he wanted to come back,” said Rivers. “He even Snapchatted my youngest son Spencer. He had told two or three people he’d made a mistake [after signing the offer sheet with Dallas], but the Snapchat said, ‘Tell your dad to call me.’”

This is part of the reason the “Who called whom first?” discussion was so stupid. If Jordan asked Rivers to call him, should we be mad at the Clippers president/coach for violating protocol? Heck, even if Jordan hadn’t asked, Rivers violated no written rule (with this at least).

And yes, Jordan probably would have re-signed with the Clippers even if his Snapchat weren’t relayed to Doc Rivers. But we’ll never know for certain. Even making Jordan 1% more likely to return would have been huge. He’s an excellent player, and the Clippers would have had no cap space to adequately replace him.

Thanks in part to Spencer Rivers, the Clippers didn’t have to learn that the hard way.