One of the more surprising breakups of the last few years, aside from Dywane Wade and the Heat, is Chandler Parsons no longer with the Mavericks. Owner Mark Cuban boated about poaching Parsons from the Rockets a few years ago in free agency, and Parsons was on the front line in recruiting, unsuccessfully as it turned out, DeAndre Jordan. But last summer Parsons bolted the Mavericks in free agency and left behind some scorched earth. Here’s the story from Tim MacMahon of ESPN on how it all happened:
As bizarre as that scene might seem, it was business (and pleasure) as usual for the Cuban-Parsons bromance, as unique an owner-player relationship as any since Jerry Buss and Magic Johnson.
Cuban has never shied away from developing friendships with players, dating back to putting up Dennis Rodman in his guest house weeks after Cuban bought the Mavs. Although Cuban has gone clubbing with dozens of players in the nearly two decades since, both Cuban and Parsons say their friendship was different. They were two peas in a pod, perhaps the league’s most personable player clicking with certainly the league’s most outgoing owner.
“We’re boys. We’re friends,” Parsons tells ESPN. “Yeah, he was the owner of the team, but I didn’t look at him any differently [than other friends]. We did stuff. We enjoyed similar activities off the court. We were friends hanging out.”
Parsons had joined the Mavericks by signing his three-year, $46 million offer sheet within feet of bass-booming speakers at a club called Attic in his hometown of Orlando, Florida. That moment went viral after Parsons’ college buddy Dan Morgan (aka @DMoSwag) tweeted a selfie of himself with Cuban and Parsons cheesing after the ink was dry on the deal.Parsons had a lot of reasons to think they could get Jordan.
He had known him for a decade, after meeting on the summer camp circuit as teenagers — and he knew Jordan did not feel at home with the Clippers and was open to moving. It also didn’t hurt that Jordan and Parsons both had the same agent, Dan Fegan, at that time.
The Mavs would then need only a 3-and-D shooting guard — they later signed Wesley Matthews — and they’d be off and running with a core of Jordan, Parsons and Nowitzki.
Cuban rubber-stamped the plan, as Parsons spearheaded one of the highest-profile recruiting efforts in recent NBA history, rarely leaving Jordan’s side in the weeks leading up to free agency, wining and dining the big man in his hometown of Houston and in L.A.
Parsons joined Cuban on the owner’s private jet for a pair of flights to L.A., where Cuban filmed “Shark Tank” episodes in the week leading up to free agency. One night Cuban and several acquaintances from the show went to the Hollywood club Bootsy Bellows. NBA rules prohibit team officials like Cuban from hanging out with other team’s prospective free agents while they’re under contract. But there are no such constraints on players. Parsons just happened to be entertaining Jordan and Matthews in the same place at the same time. Cuban coyly waved from across the club, while Parsons laid the groundwork for the Mavs’ free agency plans.
When free agency arrived in earnest, Cuban was freed from NBA tampering rules. Parsons organized an all-you-can-eat sushi feast at Nobu Malibu in the opening hour of free agency. Cuban attended, as did Nowitzki, who flew in from New York for the occasion. It was an appetizer to the Mavs’ official pitch the next morning, one of many free agency meetings for Jordan.
A few days later, Cuban and Parsons returned to L.A. on Cuban’s private jet. It was a spur-of-the-moment decision by Cuban, who wanted to make sure the Mavs got the last word after Jordan wrapped up his official meetings. The surprise visit to the center’s house seemed to work: Cuban secured a verbal commitment from Jordan.
Patron shots were poured and downed as Cuban, Parsons, Jordan and the big man’s family celebrated that morning. Cuban and Parsons kept the party going the rest of the day and night. They headed to Manhattan Beach, where Cuban owns a home, and had a liquid lunch at Shellback Tavern, a favorite Cuban watering hole. Joined by a horde of friends and business acquaintances, they eventually stumbled across Manhattan Beach Boulevard to Strand House.
“Parsons, get out of the street!” a tipsy Cuban hollered during a call-in appearance on Dallas radio station 1310 The Ticket, one of a few interviews that day that led to the league office fining Cuban for violating terms of the NBA’s moratorium period.
