Los Angeles Lakers legend Magic Johnson strongly reacted to the Los Angeles Clippers and head coach Doc Rivers parting ways on Monday.
Johnson says he “can't believe” the Clippers fired Rivers, although the team said it was a “mutual” parting of ways.
I can't believe the LA Clippers fired Doc Rivers and basically blamed him for getting bounced out of the playoffs by the Denver Nuggets.
— Earvin Magic Johnson (@MagicJohnson) September 30, 2020
Two teams are going to get superstar coaches in Doc Rivers and Tyronn Lue.
— Earvin Magic Johnson (@MagicJohnson) September 30, 2020
Doc Rivers is the winningest coach in Clippers franchise history in the regular season. However, he never guided the team past the second round of the playoffs during his tenure and blew two 3-1 series leads in the playoffs.
It's not a surprise, though, to see Magic Johnson sticking up for Rivers since there aren't many African American coaches in the NBA. The Lakers icon is confident Rivers will get picked up by someone soon, as Doc has been linked to the Houston Rockets, New Orleans Pelicans and Philadelphia 76ers.
Moving forward, it will be interesting to see who the Clippers hire to replace Rivers. The franchise is under immense pressure to win the championship next season since they choked against the Denver Nuggets at Walt Disney World and Kawhi Leonard and Paul George can become unrestricted free agents after the 2020-21 season if they both decline their player options for the 2021-22 campaign.
While Rivers was awful at in-game adjustments during his run with the Clippers, it is not the Chicago native's fault that Leonard and George both failed to score a single point in Game 7 against the Nuggets. George also hit the top of the backboard on one of his shot attempts.
A new coach won't change that, but it was certainly time for a new era since Rivers had plenty of opportunities to win a title in Los Angeles.
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