After about a 24-hour hiatus, in which the Boston Celtics and Los Angeles Clippers broke off talks about a blockbuster deal, star point guard Chris Paul, who holds a lot of clout in the Clippers organization, basically told management to get a deal done with the Celtics.
So with a little brainstorming, restructuring, and compromise, the Celtics and Clippers went back to the drawing board and are now very close to finalizing a deal that would send DeAndre Jordan and two first-round picks to the Celtics, while Kevin Garnett and coach Doc Rivers would head to Los Angeles to join the Clippers, an NBA source said early Thursday morning.
According to ESPN.com’s Marc Stein and Ramona Shelburne, one person close to the process expressed optimism that a deal would finally be completed on Thursday before Game 7 of the NBA Finals.
The Clippers and Celtics, however, have to convince the league that these are two separate trades, as NBA league rules prohibit trades being dependent on each other. Although, teams are allowed to offer draft picks or cash as compensation to the Celtics for releasing Rivers from his current contract.
The latest proposal calls for Jordan to be traded straight up for Garnett, and then the Clippers would send two first-round draft picks over to the Celtics in exchange for the right to sign Rivers. And as of early Thursday morning, both sides were confident that the league would deem the latest deal legal, a source said.
With that in mind, it seems this trade is currently in its final stages. Currently, Clippers management is waiting for approval to execute a trade with the Celtics from owner Donald Sterling. “Donald will sleep on it,” a source said Wednesday night.
