DeAndre Jordan: ‘There’s no tension. We don’t not like each other.’

When a Clippers contingent went to DeAndre Jordan’s home in Houston in July to help convince the center to re-sign with the Clippers, rumors abounded that Jordan and Chris Paul had a powwow to clear up their strained relationship.

Only thing is, according to the players, there was no strain.

“I think that there was forced tension because of everything we all heard that we said about each other, which was not true at all,” Jordan said at Clippers’ media day on Friday. “It was just the outside, and we never asked each other about it.

“These guys are my brothers. I talk to them every day. Yeah, there’s times that we bump heads on the court, but five minutes later, we’re good because it’s constructive, it’s for the right reasons: We want to win. ... There’s not any tension; we don’t not like each other. And all three of us [Jordan, Paul and Blake Griffin] are going to be here for a very long time. This is our team; this is our unit. There was no clearing of the air. We just had a sit-down to tell them I was going to be in a Clipper uniform this year.”

Jordan changed his mind at the 11th hour after he had verbally committed to play with the Dallas Mavericks, instead opting to return to the Clippers, where he had spent his entire seven-season career.

The day that Jordan signed with the Clippers, there were reports that the players were holding him hostage. Griffin had fun with the madness on social media, tweeting a photo of a chair blocking the door at Jordan’s home and a tent, jokingly implying he was camping out at Jordan’s home.

In reality, things apparently played out quite differently. Jordan, Griffin and Paul said they just ate food and hung out. Griffin said he chatted with Paul’s wife for a while about her daughter’s ballet lessons.

Said Paul: “I feel like I need to come up with a better story because the truth isn’t good enough.”

Added Jordan, with a smile: “Obama was there.”

Griffin said that the rumored tension between Jordan and Paul was just plain inaccurate. He explained that in any relationship, there are going to be bumps, but oftentimes, public perception is very different from reality.

“You don’t really hear what’s really happening with our team,” Griffin said. “I think a lot of things are misconstrued, and a lot of times, things are blown way out of proportion. ... There’s one thing that I will say about this situation: There’s never really been a tension. There’s never been a moment where I felt, like, ‘Oh man, this isn’t good. I don’t feel comfortable in this situation.’

“I tell people this all the time: The person I’m closest with in life is my brother, and my brother and I bump heads all the time. Growing up, we used to fight, but that didn’t mean that we don’t love each other and that doesn’t mean we weren’t always there for each other. I’d take a bullet for my brother.

“I always hear this over and over, and I always stress the same thing: I don’t think the situation and the things that people see from the outside are quite the same as how we feel about each other. We’re all very close and we’re all in this together, and I don’t think there was any moment in Houston where we had to sit down and clear the air. We just talked. We told DJ this is why we’d love to play with you,” he said.

Griffin added that he would like to move on from talking about the Houston meeting.

“Hopefully we can put that to rest because I think we’re all tired about talking about it, and we’re ready to get back to talking about basketball, and not our travel this summer,” Griffin said.

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