The growing feud between the Los Angeles Clippers and the Dallas Mavericks took another turn towards full out brawl on Friday when Clips head coach Doc Rivers challenged Mavs owner Mark Cuban to a cage match, or simply a game of one-on-one.
"Mark is an owner, and I'm a coach," Rivers said. "Unless he wants to play one-on-one or get in a cage match – I'm good with either one of those."
The feud spawns over DeAndre Jordan's decision (or indecision for that matter) to leave the Clippers in free agency, choosing to sign with the Dallas Mavericks, only to reverse course hours before signing his contract, choosing instead to return to Los Angeles.
Cuban responded irrationally on social media after Jordan's decision to return to Los Angeles left the Mavericks without a center, and not enough time to sign a premium free agent. When asked about Jordan, Cuban would commonly respond with "who?"
The eccentric billionaire owner also criticized Jordan's lack of response after having second thoughts about going to Dallas. Cuban said that Jordan texted him that he "was on a date," a false revelation when it was later revealed Jordan was having dinner with teammate Blake Griffin.
Additionally, Cuban's frustration when he flew to Dallas with Chandler Parsons to get one last face-to-face with Jordan only to have the center ignore his texts or phone calls.
Following the incident, Rivers went on The Herd with Colin Cowherd and spoke openly about Cuban's behavior.
Sports
Get today's sports news out of Los Angeles. Here's the latest on the Dodgers, Lakers, Angels, Kings, Galaxy, LAFC, USC, UCLA and more LA teams.
"To me, he acted very silly," Rivers said during the appearance. "You know, look at the difference. I coached DJ. DJ didn't call me when he left. Did you see me out in front of the cameras screaming and yelling and crying? I didn't do that. I was disappointed. I was disappointed internally and I handled it that way. Mark tends to do things out in the open."
Cuban responded on Cowherd's show last week:
"First of all, he obviously he didn't hear what I said, because I didn't say a whole lot. I responded to DJ's Twitter apology and that's pretty much it," Cuban replied. "The most interesting this is, it shows what someone will do when their entire future is vanishing in front of them. And that's exactly what Doc did, and I give him credit for it. "His professional life was over if he didn't get DJ."
On Friday, Rivers responded when we asked him if he felt like his professional life would have been over had Jordan not returned to the Clippers.
"I would have quit," Rivers said sarcastically. "It's more him talking and me talking and we're both just wasting time."
Rivers doesn't feel that the ongoing feud is good for the NBA, but the ratings for the Clippers first game in Dallas should go through the roof.
"If we didn't get DJ back I would have quit." Jokes Doc Rivers at Clippers media day (in response to Mark Cuban's comments) #Clippers — Michael J. Duarte (@michaeljduarte) September 25, 2015
