Doc Rivers' Clippers Trades Fans Can't Stop Debating
- 01. Clippers trades with Doc Rivers that still sting today
- 02. How the Clippers "traded for" Doc Rivers in 2013
- 03. Key trades overseen by Doc Rivers with the Clippers
- 04. Doc Rivers' role in the Chris Paul trade
- 05. The Paul George blockbuster and its aftertaste
- 06. Timeline of major Clippers trades under Doc Rivers
- 07. Why certain Clippers trades with Doc Rivers still sting
- 08. How future Clippers draft capital was affected
Clippers trades with Doc Rivers that still sting today
During his tenure as head coach and later president of basketball operations, Doc Rivers presided over a series of high-stakes Clippers trades that reshaped the franchise's roster, draft capital, and long-term trajectory. The most consequential deals-most notably the 2013 trade that brought Rivers to Los Angeles, the 2017 Chris Paul package, and the 2019 Paul George blockbuster-contain retroactive "what-if" subplots that still gnaw at fans, especially when viewed alongside the 2015 first-round pick the team surrendered just to employ him. The combination of draft-pick cost, front-office control, and public expectations created a trade legacy that feels equal parts bold and brittle.
How the Clippers "traded for" Doc Rivers in 2013
In June 2013, the Clippers effectively traded a future first-round pick to the Boston Celtics in exchange for the right to hire Doc Rivers, who had one year left on his contract with Boston at the time. The structure was novel: Boston "released" Rivers from his contract, the Clippers took over the remaining $21 million commitment, and in return Boston received an unprotected first-round selection in 2015. That pick eventually landed at No. 28, where the Celtics selected R.J. Hunter; players drafted in the late lottery-such as Kevon Looney, Montrezl Harrell, and Norman Powell-helps crystallize why the price still stings in hindsight.
What really amplified the trade's emotional weight was the subsequent ripple effect. The same year, Boston jettisoned Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett to Brooklyn, kicked off a rebuild, and then parlayed asset-heaviness into a new contention window anchored by Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown. In contrast, the Clippers paid in opportunity cost-via that pick-while building a "win-now" core around Blake Griffin, DeAndre Jordan, and Chris Paul. For many analysts, the deal represents one of the rare instances in which a team paid a tangible draft-asset price just to hire a head coach, which raises the bar on how much front-office credit or blame Rivers should bear for the Clippers' subsequent trade decisions.
Key trades overseen by Doc Rivers with the Clippers
From 2013 through his departure in 2020, Rivers' fingerprint is visible on multiple pivotal Clippers moves. As head coach, he sat in the war room for the 2017 Chris Paul trade to Houston, and, in his expanded role as president of basketball operations, he helped steer the 2019 Paul George haul that paired Kawhi Leonard with George in Los Angeles. Below is a simplified list of the most consequential trades that intersect with Rivers' tenure:
- The 2013 "coach-for-pick" transaction with Boston that brought Doc Rivers to the Clippers in exchange for an unprotected first-round selection.
- The 2017 trade of Chris Paul to the Houston Rockets for a package headlined by Patrick Beverley, Lou Williams, Sam Dekker, Montrezl Harrell, and a first-round pick, which Rivers publicly defended as a necessary "shake-up" rather than a cap-clearance play.
- The 2019 multi-piece trade with the Oklahoma City Thunder that sent Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Danilo Gallinari, multiple first-round picks, and future pick-protection to acquire Paul George, a move that hinged on Rivers' conviction that the Clippers could build a title-ready roster around Kawhi Leonard and George.
- Later roster-tweaking trades involving veterans such as Tobias Harris, JaMychal Green, and Marcus Morris, many of which Rivers publicly endorsed as "win-now" adjustments to maximize the Leonard-George window.
These deals collectively illustrate how the Clippers leveraged their own draft capital, young players, and salary-slot flexibility to build a two-superstar team, but they also left the organization with a thinner farm system and a series of long-term obligations that influenced later cap maneuvering.
Doc Rivers' role in the Chris Paul trade
In 2017, as Chris Paul approached free agency, the Clippers faced a stark choice: let him walk and receive nothing or trade him for a package of young talent and future draft capital. The team chose the latter, sending Paul to the Houston Rockets for Patrick Beverley, Lou Williams, Sam Dekker, Montrezl Harrell, and a first-round pick-moves that Rivers later described as a necessary "shake-up" to avoid stagnation.
Statistically, the trade changed the Clippers' construction overnight. Beverley became a high-energy, perimeter-defensive anchor, while Williams and Harrell morphed into one of the league's most feared second-unit scoring duos, with Williams averaging roughly 20 points per game across multiple seasons and Harrell finishing second in Sixth Man of the Year voting in 2020. Dekker never really panned out, but the front office viewed the trade less as a pure win-now move and more as a recalibration of the team's identity after years of playoff disappointment under the "Lob City" core.
The Paul George blockbuster and its aftertaste
The 2019 trade for Paul George stands as the most complex example of how Rivers' influence intertwined with Clippers front-office strategy. On the surface, the Clippers sent Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Danilo Gallinari, multiple first-round picks, and extensive pick-protection to the Oklahoma City Thunder in exchange for George. Behind the scenes, Rivers helped sell the front office on the idea that pairing George with Kawhi Leonard would create a true title-contending window, even if it meant depleting the team's future draft capital.
From a purely statistical standpoint, the trade pushed the Clippers into a tight salary-cap straitjacket. George's max-level contract, combined with Leonard's free-agent agreement, forced the team to shed rotation players and trade-assets in subsequent seasons just to retain core depth. Years later, as George evolved into an All-Star-level contributor and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander emerged as an MVP-caliber star in Oklahoma City, the trade began to look like a double-edged sword: the Clippers got a short-term title-ready roster, but they also created a long-term ceiling problem once the duo's age and health started to weigh on the team's performance.
Timeline of major Clippers trades under Doc Rivers
To visualize how often Rivers' presence coincided with roster-overhauling moves, the table below outlines a condensed, non-exhaustive timeline of the most notable trades during his Clippers tenure. All dollar figures are approximate and rounded for clarity.
| Year | Trade description | Key players/considerations moving out | Key assets acquired | Real-world impact comment |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2013 | Coach-for-pick trade with Celtics | Unprotected first-round pick (2015) | Right to hire Doc Rivers plus assumption of his $21M contract | Created a front-office-first-round obligation unrelated to on-court roster |
| 2017 | Chris Paul trade to Rockets | Chris Paul (player), late-round pick | Patrick Beverley, Lou Williams, Sam Dekker, Montrezl Harrell, first-round pick | Shifted identity from star-centered to guard-driven and depth-heavy |
| 2019 | Paul George trade with Thunder | Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Danilo Gallinari, multiple first-round picks, pick-protections | Paul George (All-Star wing) | Created a short-term title-big window but thinned long-term assets |
| 2019-2020 | Multiple win-now trades (e.g., Marcus Morris, JaMychal Green) | Future-oriented picks and bench players | Veteran rotation pieces | Reinforced championship-window focus at expense of roster depth insurance |
This cadence of trades suggests that Rivers' Clippers rarely operated in maintenance mode; instead, the franchise consistently leaned into win-now or team-reconstruction scenarios, which elevated both the upside and the downside of each transaction.
Why certain Clippers trades with Doc Rivers still sting
The trades that still sting the most are those where the Clippers exchanged a tangible, long-term asset-like a draft pick-for a shorter-term payoff or a coach-for-pick structure. The 2015 first-round pick used to hire Rivers is a textbook example: in a league where late-first-round selections can blossom into key rotation players, that single pick represents a lost opportunity to develop home-grown talent.
Similarly, the Paul George trade continues to draw scrutiny because the Clippers surrendered a budding franchise-pillar in Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and a package of future draft considerations for a star whose fit and health were always somewhat uncertain. When viewed alongside the team's inconsistent playoff results during the Rivers-Leonard-George era, fans often ask whether the Clippers overpaid in assets for a window that never fully opened. Those questions, amplified by public commentary from Rivers himself on the "shake-up" philosophy and the need for roster change, make the trade portfolio feel both ambitious and fragile.
How future Clippers draft capital was affected
The cumulative effect of Rivers-era trades-especially the 2013 coach-for-pick deal and the 2019 Paul George package-was a noticeable thinning of the Clippers' future draft capital. By 2020, the team had either traded away or heavily protected several first-round picks, which limited its ability to absorb risk via trades or to rebuild organically if the Kawhi-George window collapsed.
Club-authored reports and interviews from the era indicate that front-office leadership accepted that trade-off, believing that the short-term window with Leonard and George justified the long-term asset sacrifice. However, because the team fell short of a championship and Leonard's health issues grew more pronounced, the math looks less favorable in hindsight. Analysts frequently point to the combination of the 2015 first-rounder and the multiple 2020s picks surrendered for George as the two single largest draft-asset costs associated with the Rivers-era Clippers trade strategy.
What are the most common questions about Doc Rivers Clippers Trades Fans Cant Stop Debating?
What did the Clippers give up to hire Doc Rivers?
The Clippers gave up an unprotected first-round pick in 2015 to facilitate the transition of Doc Rivers from Boston to Los Angeles. Initially, reports indicated that the team sought to protect the pick, but Boston insisted on an unprotected selection, which ultimately fell at No. 28. That late-first slot allowed the Celtics to draft R.J. Hunter, while several players who became rotation mainstays in later years-such as Kevon Looney, Montrezl Harrell, and Norman Powell-were still available. The opportunity cost, therefore, is not just the pick itself but the fact that the Clippers could have used that asset in a blockbuster trade or to replenish the bench instead of spending it on a coaching hire.
Why did the Clippers trade Chris Paul instead of letting him walk?
The Clippers traded Chris Paul to the Houston Rockets because they believed they could not re-sign him long-term while maintaining flexibility to build around younger pieces, and they preferred receiving draft capital and young talent over losing him for nothing in free agency. Rivers later said the front office felt the core needed a "shake-up" to avoid repeating the same playoff scripts and to open up a new window with a different roster profile.
Did Doc Rivers assemble the Clippers' title-contention roster?
Doc Rivers did not single-handedly assemble the Clippers' entire title-run roster, but his combination of front-office authority and coaches' influence meant he played a central role in shaping the team's core trades. He helped green-light the Chris Paul trade, vocally supported the Paul George deal, and later endorsed the use of multiple draft picks and rotation players to fill out the roster around Kawhi Leonard and George. Many close observers therefore view Rivers as the architect of the Clippers' most aggressive modern trade window, even if some later decisions-especially around pick-protection and roster depth-have been debated in retrospect.
What did the Clippers gain from the Doc Rivers era trades?
The Clippers gained several tangible benefits from the trades overseen by Doc Rivers: a new coaching identity, a transition from the Lob City era into a more versatile, guard-driven roster, and a short-term title-contending core built around Kawhi Leonard and Paul George. The team also acquired valuable two-way players-such as Patrick Beverley, Lou Williams, and Montrezl Harrell-who helped stabilize the roster across multiple seasons and contributed to the Clippers' best regular-season records in franchise history during Rivers' tenure.
What legacy do Clipper fans assign to Doc Rivers' trades?
Clipper fans tend to assign a mixed legacy to Doc Rivers' trades: they credit him with bold moves that pushed the franchise closer to legitimacy than ever before, but they also criticize the high cost of draft capital and the ultimate failure to break through in the playoffs. The "sting" of the 2013 first-round pick, the Chris Paul departure, and the Paul George package persists because each deal represents a fork in the road where the Clippers chose immediate contention over long-term asset security, and the results never fully matched the risk.