Chandler Parsons confesses tweet that started NBA emoji war wasn’t about DeAndre Jordan

Remember July 8, 2015? It feels like months ago now, and indeed it was months ago. That was the day we learned DeAndre Jordan was reneging on his verbal agreement to sign with the Dallas Mavericks, which prompted a flurry of emoji-tweeting from the Mavs and Clippers, which in turned prompted a lockdown at Casa Jordan and the big man’s eventual return to the Clippers.

It was a wonderful day, and the emoji battle was the best part, highlighted by Chris Paul making banana boat jokes and Paul Pierce having no idea how emojis work. It all began with one simple tweet from Chandler Parsons of the Mavericks:

That, to the whole NBA world, was a signal that the Mavs’ most dogged recruiter and Jordan confidant was headed DeAndre’s way to try to talk him back into signing with Dallas. We were wrong. Here’s Parsons on the Ben & Skin radio show, via The Dallas Morning News:

I loved the emojis during all of that, and then everybody started jumping on that and there were emojis everywhere - did you enjoy all that, or was it too stressful to enjoy it?

Parsons: You know what’s funny? Actually, when I tweeted that plane emoji, I was leaving LA and going to Vegas for my girlfriend’s birthday. I wasn’t even going to Houston. I didn’t even think about it initially, then it started blowing up, and obviously the timing of it was perfect and then it just kind of took off with J.J. [Redick] tweeting the car and [Chris Paul] and everybody -- I saw the Dodgers, the Warriors, Kobe, MJ, everybody started tweeting it so that was more funny than ever. At that point, it was already over and he was going back to the Clippers, so might as well make light of it.

Now, I don’t believe Parsons if he’s trying to suggest he didn’t understand how his tweet would be taken, but I do believe him when he says he had no intention of flying to Dallas and when he says Jordan’s future was already set. It’s increasingly clear that the Emoji Battle, the lockdown and really that entire day of fun was a collective charade around a done deal, but dammit, it was fun.