Report: NBA Will Block Celtics Attempt to Trade Kevin Garnett to Clippers
By Chris Roling
Earlier today the NBA was shaken to its core when longtime Boston Celtics head coach Doc Rivers was traded to the Los Angeles Clippers.
The trade changes the landscape of the NBA drastically but also reportedly prevents the two sides from doing any further business. There appears to be rumblings that the two sides wanted to swap Kevin Garnett and DeAndre Jordan as well.
That won’t be happening if NBA commissioner David Stern has anything to say about it.
According to Jackie MacMullan of ESPN Boston the league may very well veto any further trades between the two teams because it will send the impression it was a packaged deal with Rivers’ services:
"League and teams sources also confirmed that for now, any deal involving Garnett and the Clippers is on hold in light of commissioner David Stern’s objections to the appearance that the KG deal (for DeAndre Jordan) and Rivers were related.One source with knowledge of the NBA’s thinking told ESPN.com that the league does not intend to change its stance as expressed by Stern in multiple radio interviews Thursday, meaning that the league would view any subsequent trade agreement between the Celtics and Clippers involving Garnett to be part of the Rivers deal and thus in violation of league rules."
It’s horrible news for both sides even though it makes sense. The Clippers now have a new coach in Rivers who will be rejuvenated to pursue a championship now that Chris Paul is likely to stick around.
That said, it’s even worse for Boston. The front office clearly wants to begin a serious rebuilding phase, hence the willingness to ship off Rivers and Garnett. Now the team may be stuck with both Garnett and Paul Pierce’s massive contracts which would inhibit the beginning of a full blown rebuilding process.
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