The Los Angeles Clippers’ trading Chris Paul was shocking news to start Wednesday. What followed was speculation about what led to Paul wanting to leave the Clippers. Most notable were reports that he “despised” Doc Rivers and how the head coach handled his son Austin.
After the trade was made official, the elder Rivers spoke about the situation, denying those reports and previous ones about Paul’s relationship with Blake Griffin and DeAndre Jordan:
Doc on CP relationship with Austin, BG, DJ “We’ve heard all the stories about Blake and DJ and Austin." cont
— Brad Turner (@BA_Turner) June 29, 2017
Doc cont: "I can’t comment just on Austin because it’s just not right. We’ve heard he left because of all three today."
— Brad Turner (@BA_Turner) June 29, 2017
Doc cont: "He left because of DJ, he left because of Blake and now he left because of Austin. We know he didn’t leave because of that."
— Brad Turner (@BA_Turner) June 29, 2017
Doc cont: "There is a lot of speculation on why he left. The one thing I know is he didn’t leave because of any of those three guys."
— Brad Turner (@BA_Turner) June 29, 2017
Rivers continued by maintaining that Paul’s decision to leave the Clippers was based solely on his belief that he would have a better opportunity to win in Houston:
Doc on CP “He left because he wanted to be with James Harden. Let’s not get that twisted. I wish him well. I have no problem with that.
— Brad Turner (@BA_Turner) June 29, 2017
Doc con: "He left because he felt like he would have a better chance to win somewhere else.”
— Brad Turner (@BA_Turner) June 29, 2017
Austin Rivers also denied the allegations doing so on his personal Twitter account:
These false rumors are comedy…so fictional it's actually amusing! People will say or do anything to get attention. A lot ?? out there
— Austin Rivers (@AustinRivers25) June 28, 2017
We may never know the exact circumstances of Paul’s decision to leave. The Clippers may have been unwilling to pay him for five years. He may have had issues with some of the other players and coaches. And he may have thought playing alongside James Harden would be the best chance of finally reaching the conference finals. All of these scenarios could be true; most likely, some combination of them is.
