LA Clippers head coach Doc Rivers can vividly recall the anguish and gut-knotting anxiety that came with the pursuit of Kawhi Leonard, even the bits and pieces of the moments prior to locking down a verbal agreement with the star. Among them was an anecdote of his dinner time meal, in which he was forced to step out to a restaurant to be kept on the loop, only to keep his waiter, a Los Angeles Lakers fan, out of it seconds later.
“So I’m pulling into the parking lot and the phone rings and it’s Lawrence and he said, ‘Where are you?’ ” Rivers recalled to Arash Markazi of The Los Angeles Times. “I said, ‘I’m walking into Nobu.’ He said, ‘They have terrible reception there! Get out of there! Go somewhere with better reception. The deal is back on!’
“So I go to the side of the road on PCH and we’re going back and forth and we got the deal done. I walked back into Nobu with a whole different attitude. Our waiter was a Lakers fan and the news hadn’t broken yet but I knew. He kept telling me, ‘We’re going to get Kawhi’ and I kept saying, ‘I don’t know about that.’”
As much as he would've liked to place a bet with the waiter, Rivers had to keep these matters confidential and bite his tongue until the proverbial ink could dry. Rivers' meal would wind up cold after the many times he had to excuse himself from the table and go outside to take a call, but he will surely eat like a king for the next three years and maybe even bring Leonard to the place that started it all.
Follow Us
Subscribe