DeAndre Jordan’s time with the Brooklyn Nets has been quite strange.
After arriving in free agency in 2019, he averaged 8.9 PPG and 10 RPG in 22 MPG for the Nets, primarily as a starter.
This season, he went for 7.5 PPG and 7.5 RPG. Jordan went back and forth between starting and coming off the bench before Brooklyn acquired LaMarcus Aldridge in March. It was from that point on that Jordan’s role began to slowly, but surely decrease.
Steve Nash cleared the air for the media when he had to fit Aldridge into the rotation. He explained that Jordan understood this and he was fine with the route Nash was going with minutes. Nash also made it clear that the veteran is always ready whenever his number is called. Still, the 32-year-old remained vocal with the team on the bench and in the locker room. It didn’t seem to bother him too much.
Several weeks later, Aldridge was forced to retire due to an irregular heartbeat. This meant Jordan would be seeing minutes again, but it only lasted a couple of games. When the playoffs came around, Jordan never left the bench.
This now raises concern on what the future will be for Jordan next season. Will he find a way back into Nash’s rotation? Or will he stay on the bench and serve as not only another asset for the team to resort to, but to serve as an intimidation factor for others to see how much depth this Nets squad has?