Doc Rivers Planned on Returning to Boston Celtics Next Season Prior to Clippers Trade
By Josh Hill
The biggest trade that seemed like it would never happen has finally seemingly happened. The Boston Celtics and Los Angeles Clippers agreed on a deal that would send head coach Doc Rivers to the Clippers in exchange for a first round draft pick, and it looks like Rivers and the Clippers have agreed to terms on a new contract.
But while the trade has seemed to be a defense mechanism for the Celtics incase Rivers didn’t come back next season, Yahoo! Sports is reporting that had the trade not happened, Rivers would have been back in Boston next year.
Before Clips offered 1st round pick to Celtics on Sunday, Rivers had informed Boston he planned to return for '13-14 season, source tells Y!
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) June 23, 2013
The next question is if the Celtics knew they were getting Rivers back next season, why still make the trade?
It’s simple, Boston is wanting to rebuild and they were uninterested in paying Rivers his $7 million salary for next season. Now instead of having to put off getting younger for another season, the Celtics can ship out an expensive head coach in exchange for a first-round draft pick that could be a pretty nice one of things go south in Los Angeles in 2014.
This couldn’t have been a better example of a win-win trade as both sides won here and it appears it was always going to happen, the proper parameters just needed to be pounded out first.