Austin Rivers did not take a “family discount” in agreeing to return to the Clippers and play for his father, Doc Rivers, A. Sherrod Blakely of CSNNE.com reports. The two-year, $6.4MM deal, according to Yahoo Sports’ Adrian Wojnarowski (Twitter link), is comparable to what Rivers would have likely seen in terms of annual salary if he signed with another team, a league executive told Blakely.
Here’s more from the Pacific Division:
- By spending his summer in Phoenix instead of returning to his hometown of Birmingham, Eric Bledsoe is showing a full offseason commitment to the Suns, Paul Coro of The Arizona Republic writes. Bledsoe has been working out at US Airways Center, has attended draft workouts and was part of the Suns’ recruiting group that pitched to LaMarcus Aldridge, Coro points out. Bledsoe’s name swirled in trade rumors when the team agreed to re-sign Brandon Knight, but Suns coach Jeff Hornacek later denied any talks. Bledsoe is set to make $13.5MM next season in the second year of a five-year, $70MM deal.
- Vlade Divac, Kings vice president of basketball and franchise operations, acknowledged that the relationship between coach George Karl and center DeMarcus Cousins isn’t exactly great, but, while appearing on The Jim Rome Show on CBS Sports Radio, Divac said he expects both to be with Sacramento this season (story relayed by ESPN.com). “Well, I’ll be honest with you, it’s not pretty right now, but I’m focused on bringing a better team this year and I think I did a pretty good job in this free agency and now I’m going to be focused on the two of them,” Divac said.