Clippers, Celtics agree in principle on Doc Rivers trade

The Clippers and the Boston Celtics have agreed in principle on a deal that will send Coach Doc Rivers to Los Angeles, according to NBA executives who were not authorized to speak publicly on the situation.

The Clippers will send the Celtics a first-round pick in 2015. The sticking point had been that the Clippers wanted the draft pick to be lottery protected, but the Celtics ended up getting their wish as the pick will be unprotected.

The Clippers will take over the contract Rivers had with Boston, which has three years and $21 million left on it.

The deal finally comes after a week of on-again, off-again negotiations between the teams.

A previously proposed blockbuster deal that would have had the Celtics sending the rights to Rivers plus forward Kevin Garnett to the Clippers in exchange for center DeAndre Jordan and two first-round picks would have violated the collective-bargaining agreement, which doesn’t allow a team to trade players in a deal “involving coaches’ contracts.”

Coaching cadidates Byron Scott and Brian Shaw both had conversations with the Clippers regarding the parameters of a contract following meetings with Donald Sterling last week. The team even initiated more talks with Scott’s representatives Friday in an attempt to push things along.

But, instead, it pushed along negotiations with Boston.

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