It’s pretty wild that Doc Rivers has been the Clippers’ head coach for seven years now. What’s also pretty wild is that the Clippers actually traded a first round pick for Rivers back in 2013 — that rarely happens for coaches.
What makes that even crazier, though, is that Rivers says he almost left the job just a few weeks after the trade went through. Why? Because of Donald Sterling.
Rivers had just secured a sign-and-trade deal to bring J.J. Redick to the Clippers from the Milwaukee Bucks. The deal was done and Rivers was headed home knowing he added a new key piece to his team.
Then, all of a sudden, he got a call saying that Sterling called the deal off because, well, he apparently doesn’t like white basketball players.
Rivers told the story as part of an extended — and illuminating — interview on #NBATogether with Ernie Johnson:
“JJ agrees, I jump on a plane, I fly back to Orlando and I get a call. From Andy Roeser. He says ‘Hey, the deals off.’ I said ‘What do you mean the deal is off?’ [Roeser said]. ‘Donald doesn’t like white players.’ And I said ‘Excuse me?’ Donald Sterling said no.”
Rivers continued to describe a conversation he had with Sterling shortly after that where he threatened to quit the job.
“I said ‘I will not let you ruin my reputation. Not going to happen. It will never happen.’ ”
Three hours later, Rivers said, Roeser called Rivers to let him know Sterling changed his mind and the deal went through with no explanation why.
The rest is history. Sterling was banned from the NBA for life almost a year later for making racist statements about black people. He can keep all of that hate to himself now.
