LA Clippers head coach Doc Rivers had been relieved of his front-office duties by the time the organization mulled over a potential trade of a recently re-signed Blake Griffin. Rivers, who held the title of president and head coach, had agreed to keep coaching while Lawrence Frank took the reins in the front office under advisory of Hall of Famer Jerry West.
The ink was fresh on Griffin's five-year, $173 million contract that would make him the face of the franchise, but after weeks of evaluating the future of the organization, Rivers was consulted on the matter, giving the okay to send him to the Detroit Pistons.
“It was hard,” Doc Rivers told Jovan Buha of The Athletic. “It’s not fun, especially when a guy wants to stay and feels like he’s part of the future. Then you call him — or at least try to call him. I actually never talked to him. He didn’t want to take any of our calls. And I get that. I’ve been around that, and I actually respect that. No problem with that one way or the other.
“But it is hard. It is what it is. It is a business at the end of the day. The team had to do what it felt was best for the team’s future. And I was one of the guys that was in on the decision, and I agreed with it. I thought it was the right thing to do.”
Rivers and the organization were aware of the backlash that would come from the fan base that idolized him, as well as how the franchise would be forced to take a couple of steps back to be able to step forward again.
The hope for a brighter future was the hinging factor in that decision, one that Rivers had input in despite letting go of his duties as president, and one he admits to this day was the toughest he has made while in LA.
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