Blake Griffin is excited for DeAndre Jordan to play in hostile Dallas

Blake Griffin has always supported DeAndre Jordan — though now he’s looking forward to his being tested a bit.

When the Clippers center was a free agent in July and was having second thoughts about having committed to the Dallas Mavericks, Griffin flew to Jordan’s home in Houston and the two buddies went out to dinner the night before Jordan had to make his official decision. Griffin said his intention wasn’t to persuade Jordan to choose the Clippers; rather, it was to provide a friendly ear during a hard moment.

Jordan, of course, ended up reneging on his commitment and returned to the Clippers, for whom he has played his entire career.

On Wednesday, the Clippers will play in Dallas in front of a crowd that surely resents Jordan for the emotional roller coaster he put them through. Let’s just say that Griffin isn’t worried for his friend.

“I’ve been looking forward to this game for a long time now,” Griffin said. “It’s going to be interesting. I can’t wait to see what [Mavericks owner Mark] Cuban and all of those guys have pulled out, how their crowd is going to be. It’s going to be fun. It’s going to be a hostile environment.”

There was fallout from Jordan’s change of heart. Chandler Parsons, who had spent a lot of time recruiting Jordan, said he felt “very disappointed, frustrated, disrespected.”

Cuban also felt slighted and took to social media to vent about how Jordan didn’t even call him to let him know that he had backed out of his commitment. Then, when Jordan offered Cuban an apology over Twitter, Cuban rejected it, writing on Cyber Dust, “When is an apology not an apology? When you didn’t write it yourself. Next.”

The Clippers already played the Mavericks in Los Angeles on Oct. 29, beating them, 104-88. Before that game, Cuban mouthed off about Jordan’s team, saying, “Look, the Clippers are the Clippers. You can change the players, you can change the owner, but the Clippers are just who they have been for the last 30 years.”

Cuban may be even more emboldened on his home court, in front of thousands of fans who were disappointed by Jordan. When Jordan was asked after Monday’s win over the Memphis Grizzlies whether he’d put any thought into what the environment is going to be like in Dallas, he said he hadn’t.

“No, oh no, I don’t care,” Jordan said. “It’s going to be hostile, but it’s supposed to be. It’s cool.”

Jordan played it cool, but Griffin knows that Wednesday’s game is going to be filled with emotion. He said the Clippers need to focus on making sure Jordan doesn’t get too caught up in the histrionics.

“Sometimes when you want to beat a team really badly, and you have a lot of extra motivation, and you have a lot of stuff going on, sometimes you force it, so it’s our job to make sure he stays even,” Griffin said.