Clippers Fined $250,000 for Offering DeAndre Jordan Unauthorized Endorsements

The NBA announced on Tuesday that the Los Angeles Clippers were fined $250,000 for offering center DeAndre Jordan unauthorized business opportunities, per Chris Mannix of Sports Illustrated.  

Brad Turner of the Los Angeles Times reported that the team offered Jordan a Lexus endorsement deal worth $200,000 a year, triggering the fine from the league. Mark Medina of the L.A. Daily News confirmed the report.

Liz Mullen of Sports Business Journal posted the league's statement on her Twitter account:

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The violation involved a presentation made by the Clippers to free agent DeAndre Jordan on July 2 that improperly included a potential third-party endorsement opportunity for the player. While the NBA's investigation ultimately concluded that the presentation of this opportunity had no impact on Jordan's decision to re-sign with the Clippers, the team's conduct nevertheless violated the league's anti-circumvention rules. 

The NBA's anti-circumvention rules prohibit teams from, among other things, providing or arranging for others to provide any form of compensation to a player unless such compensation is included in a player contract or otherwise expressly permitted under the CBA.

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It's been a wild summer for Jordan and the Clippers. Jordan had a verbal agreement in place with the Dallas Mavericks, but he ultimately backed away to sign a four-year, $88 million deal to return to the Clippers.

Brian Windhorst of ESPN summed up the crazy summer for Jordan:

It isn't hard to see why both the Mavericks and Clippers coveted Jordan and went to great lengths to secure his signature. The star center averaged 11.5 points, 15.0 rebounds and 2.2 blocks per game in 2014-15, giving the Clippers a defensive anchor in the paint.

Jordan will now need to prove he can continue to be a franchise center worth a max deal in his upcoming seasons in Los Angeles.