Here are five things you may not know about Clippers center DeAndre Jordan, who in his sixth season is the longest tenured player on the roster.
1. He was one of 28 players to participate in Team USA’s men’s basketball mini-camp this summer in Las Vegas. However, it was not the first time Jordan has been a member of USA Basketball. In 2007 he played for Team USA in the U19 World Championship in Novi Sad, Serbia. The squad included future NBA Lottery picks Stephen Curry, Michael Beasley and Jonny Flynn. Jordan had his best game in the tournament opener, scoring a team-high 18 points with seven rebounds against Mali.
2. During arguably the busiest offseason of his career, Jordan was invited to play the “Call of Duty: Ghosts” video game nearly three months before it was released in a worldwide multiplayer debut. Jordan is an avid video game fan, playing sports titles like the NBA 2K series and other action games. His favorite Call of Duty game was 2010’s “Black Ops.”
3. The play of year in the NBA last season was likely Jordan’s alley-oop over then-Pistons guard Brandon Knight. It generated significant social media buzz, including trending worldwide on Twitter for close to 24 hours. There were T-shirts displaying Jordan’s “dunk face” and he made numerous appearances on sports news outlets. A few months after the play, Jordan was given the most prestigious honor in the NBA’s annual Social Media Awards: “The Social Slam.” Coincidentally, Jordan won the award over four other great dunks from the 2012-13 season, including teammate Blake Griffin’s alley-oop from Jamal Crawford where Crawford lobbed it after putting the ball between his legs.
4. Jordan is not the only athlete in his family. His younger brothers, Cory and Brett, are in the midst of successful careers in baseball and football, respectively. Cory, 22, is a 6-foot-5, right-handed relief pitcher for the Hudson Valley Renegades, a class-A affiliate of the Tampa Bay Rays. Brett, 19, is a freshman tight end at Colorado State. He actually committed to CSU in Jan. 2012 as a high school junior. After attending a Clippers-Nuggets game, Blake Griffin and Chris Paul tweeted out the youngest Jordan’s college decision.
5. Prior to every game Jordan tweets #35 @TobiOye… in memoriam of his friend Tobi Oyedeji, who died in a car accident five days short of his 18th birthday in 2010. Oyedeji was a star basketball player in Jordan’s hometown of Bellaire, Texas and was slated to play at Jordan’s alma mater, Texas A&M. Before the 2010-11 NBA season, Jordan vowed to tweet Oyedeji’s jersey number and Twitter handle as a reminder of how fragile life can be. He continues to do so today.