Austin Rivers was a free agent many teams viewed as a prime target to pick away from the Los Angeles Clippers. As LA was meeting with Kevin Durant, any plans they had to bring him in under their cap would require the Clippers to completely strip their roster.
A roster strip means guys like Austin Rivers, Jamal Crawford and other would be prime for the picking. With more dominoes falling as the days pass, the Clippers have essentially pulled their name out of the Durant sweepstakes.
They will re-sign Austin Rivers to a three-year deal and adding any money from him onto the cap will remove them from the KD sweepstakes.
Following from Adrian Wojnarowski of The Vertical on Yahoo! Sports.
Free-agent guard Austin Rivers has agreed to a three-year, $35 million-plus deal to return to the Los Angeles Clippers, league sources told The Vertical.
The contract includes a player option in the third year, sources said.
Rivers, 23, had been in contract talks with the New York Knicks before agreeing to a deal to stay with the Clippers, sources said.
Rivers is coming off the best season of his NBA career and his father, Clippers team president and head coach Doc Rivers, rewarded him properly. He averaged 8.9 points and 1.5 assists coming off the bench for the Clippers. As Los Angeles waits on a decision from Jamal Crawford, securing Austin was a move that just made sense.
