4:23pm: Markazi now says the Clippers will indeed send a 2017 second-rounder Boston’s way, adding that the Clips tried hard not to give up the pick (Twitter link).
3:25pm: The Clippers aren’t giving up a second-rounder, according to Markazi (Twitter link), which conflicts with Murphy’s report.
3:08pm: The Celtics will receive a 2017 second-round pick from the Clippers, and Boston will waive Douglas-Roberts once he comes in via the trade, according to Mark Murphy of the Boston Herald (Twitter links).
2:50pm: Douglas-Roberts is also headed to Boston in the deal, reports Dan Woike of the Orange County Register (Twitter link). That would be enough salary coming off the Clippers’ books to make the trade legal, though it would still leave the Clips closer to the hard cap than they had been.
2:40pm: Shavlik Randolph is heading from the Suns to the Celtics, Bullock is going to the Suns, and Rivers is going to the Clippers, reports Shams Charania of RealGM (Twitter link). Coro hinted at a potential Bullock-Randolph exchange a few minutes earlier (on Twitter). Randolph is on an expiring contract with a salary worth nearly $1.228MM. The Clippers would need to give up more than Bullock’s salary of nearly $1.201MM to take back Rivers, who makes $2.44MM, so it appears there’s still more to be worked out. The Clippers, a tax team, can’t take back more than 125% plus $100K of what they give up via trade, and they must stay under their hard cap.
1:42pm: Bullock is back in play for the Suns, Coro tweets.
1:14pm: One of the teams involved nixed the idea of Bullock going to the Suns, though the matter might be revisited, tweets Paul Coro of the Arizona Republic.
12:50pm: Farmar will not be heading to the Celtics in the deal, Murphy tweets.
12:43pm: The Celtics have told Austin Rivers that the trade will be finalized today, a source tells Shams Charania of RealGM (Twitter link).
12:36pm: The Suns are drawing increasing mention as the likely third team in the deal, tweets Marc Stein of ESPN.com. The involvement of Phoenix, which is under the cap, would allow the Celtics not to have to take back any salary for Rivers, Stein points out, and that would also let the Celtics create a trade exception. The belief is that the Suns covet Bullock, though the Clippers would prefer not to surrender him, according to Stein. In any case, Rivers still hasn’t reported to Boston, though that’s with the permission of the Celtics, who’ve promised him that they’ll send him to the Clippers, and that remains the plan (All Twitter links).
THURSDAY, 9:08am: The Clippers appear to be making progress toward finalizing the trade, and it’ll probably involve some combination of Farmar, Douglas-Roberts and Bullock, a league source tells Bolch. Celtics president of basketball operations Danny Ainge still insists there’s a chance Rivers remains with Boston, as he said this morning in a radio appearance on 98.5 The Sports Hub with Rich Shertenlieb and Fred Toucher, according to Ben Rohrbach of WEEI.com (Twitter link). It nonetheless appears that the deal remains on track, Rohrbach adds. The Celtics and Clippers are still looking for a third team, according to Mark Murphy of the Boston Herald.
12:54pm: Chris Douglas-Roberts is a “strong candidate” to be dealt, tweets Jeff Zillgitt of USA Today, noting that Douglas-Roberts is on an expiring contract. The small forward has a one-year deal for the minimum salary.
WEDNESDAY, 11:20am: The belief has been that the Clippers have been talking to the Suns about taking on salary the Clippers would need to unload to complete the Rivers deal, according to Ben Bolch of the Los Angeles Times. It’s unclear if the Clippers would prefer to bring Phoenix into the Rivers trade to make it a three-team swap or make separate transactions.
TUESDAY, 11:01pm: The Celtics aren’t done reshaping their roster after all of their recent trades. Boston will reportedly ship Austin Rivers to the Clippers, but the move will have to wait until Boston can clear roster space for two expiring contracts, Steve Bulpett of The Boston Herald reports (Twitter links). The Celtics will also nab themselves a second round draft pick in the deal, Bulpett adds. Boston currently has 15 players on its roster, including the newly acquired Nate Robinson.
To clear the required roster spots, the Celtics are reportedly likely to attempt to reach buyout arrangements with Robinson and Tayshaun Prince. As for whom the Celtics would need to clear room for, assuming the roster spots they needed to clear were for players they would receive from Los Angeles, both Reggie Bullock and Jordan Farmar have been mentioned as potential trade candidates. However, Farmar doesn’t necessarily qualify as a player with an expiring deal, since he has a player option for 2015/16 worth $2,170,465.
Rivers will join his father, Doc Rivers, in Los Angeles. The elder Rivers was reportedly concerned about the perception that would surround a father trading for and coaching his son, but Clippers GM Dave Wohl and assistant coaches Lawrence Frank and Mike Woodson have reportedly encouraged Doc to forgo his concerns and make the deal.
The younger Rivers has never quite lived up to having been selected No. 10 overall by New Orleans back in 2012, and he could benefit from a change of scenery. He’s in the last year of his rookie deal, and he’s set to become a free agent at the end of the season. Rivers’ career numbers are 6.9 points, 1.9 rebounds, and 2.5 assists in 165 total contests. His career slash line is .390/.332/.631.
Farmar, who signed with the Clippers for the full value of the biannual exception this past offseason, is reportedly displeased with his role on the Clippers, as Arash Markazi of ESPNLosAngeles.com wrote about a month ago. He’s currently logging a career-low 14.7 minutes per game. Bullock, 23, is averaging 2.3 points, 1.6 rebounds, and 0.2 assists in 10.5 minutes per game over 25 appearances for Los Angeles this season. His shooting numbers are .426/.385/.800.
Photo courtesy of USA Today Sports Images.
