After opening up this season with a stellar 14-2 record, the Los Angeles Clippers suddenly began to struggle. Faced with several detrimental injuries that have affected players such as Chris Paul and Blake Griffin, the Clippers have been fighting an uphill battle for much of the year.
Because of the various injuries, this Clippers team has been unable to reach its full potential — Chris Paul and Blake Griffin have played just 37 games together this season — and now find themselves teetering on the edge of being given the sixth or seventh seed.
With both Chris Paul and Blake Griffin set to become free agents this summer, Los Angeles must develop a concrete plan and decide which direction its franchise will head: Either break up the core, which has been around for six-plus years but has never made it past the second round, or attempt to retain its players and reload again for next season.
That concrete plan, largely developed by owner Steve Ballmer, must also include Clippers head coach and president Doc Rivers, who has faced his fair share of scrutiny from fans in recent months. According to an ESPN.com report, Rivers and the Orlando Magic may decide to explore a reunion down the road.
Doc Rivers is under contract to serve as Clippers coach and president of basketball operations through the 2018-19 season. This is Year 3 of the five-year deal Rivers landed with new Clippers owner Steve Ballmer — believed to be in excess of $50 million — after steering the club so admirably through the last days of Donald T. Sterling’s famously chaotic and controversial reign that spanned more than three decades.
That monster pact, however, hasn’t prevented Rivers’ name from popping up in one of the league’s more rampant recent conspiracy theories.
There has been persistent chatter for weeks over the NBA’s front-office grapevine that the Orlando Magic and Rivers will explore a reunion down the road.
Now, you’re certainly not alone if you’re wondering whether down the road in this case should be measured in months or
years.More clarity, though, might not be far off.
Doc Rivers joined the Clippers back in 2013 after a successful coaching stint with Boston that included one NBA championship.
He has history with the Magic franchise, and got his first NBA coaching gig with the team in 1999. Rivers would be named Coach of the Year that season, but would be fired from his job just a few years later. Still, the city of Orlando has always been an interest to Doc Rivers, who is known to have some family residing in that area.
Steve Ballmer, Doc Rivers and the Los Angeles Clippers have significant decisions to make this offseason, and the future of Rivers with the team is now in question more than ever before. Rivers, should he return to Orlando, may not return in a coaching role. According to ESPN, it is Magic general manager Rob Hennigan that’s on the hot seat, rather than coach Frank Vogel.
