Few players have seen their stock fall as much in a period of about five years as DeAndre Jordan.
He has gone from an All-Star in the 2016-17 season to a marginal rotation player with serious flaws and weaknesses.
On Friday, the Denver Nuggets center had multiple opportunities to grab a defensive rebound on the same possession, but he kept getting outhustled by the Boston Celtics.
DeAndre Jordan just couldn't secure a rebound 😅 pic.twitter.com/LXzzGHGaYN
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) November 12, 2022
The Nuggets, who have been considered by many to be legitimate championship contenders, got routed by the defending Eastern Conference champions, 131-112.
Overall, it was a night Jordan would like to forget, as his only contribution to the stat sheet in nine minutes was two points and one blocked shot.
Jordan Used To Be One Of The Game’s Best Centers
Not too long ago, he was a force to be reckoned with defensively and on the boards, and he was one of the central cornerstones of a “Lob City” Los Angeles Clippers team that was picked by plenty of people each year to reach the NBA Finals.
Back then, Jordan led the league in rebounding twice, and his high-water mark came in the 2017-18 season when he averaged 15.2 boards a game.
But that offseason, as that iteration of the Clippers was dismantled, Jordan signed with the Dallas Mavericks as a free agent, then was traded to the New York Knicks at mid-season.
The following season, he joined the Brooklyn Nets at the same time they brought Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving onboard, and he was thought to be the type of veteran role player who would help them win it all.
Instead, he was traded to the Detroit Pistons in the summer of 2021, and the Pistons immediately bought out his contract, allowing the Los Angeles Lakers to sign him.
Jordan quickly fell out of the Lakers’ rotation and was released later in the season.
The days of him ferociously grabbing rebounds and swatting away opponents’ shots are starting to become a more distant memory, and those images are being replaced by images such as the one of him not being able to grab a rebound versus Boston on Friday.
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