Doc Rivers denies Blake Griffin-to-Celtics trade rumors
The Clippers head coach said he hopes Griffin finishes his career in LA.
The Celtics have been a rumored trade destination for Clippers superstar forward Blake Griffin for much of the summer, but Doc Rivers did his best to throw cold water on that possibility Thursday.
In an appearance on The Vertical Podcast with Adrian Wojnarowski, Rivers, the head coach and president of basketball operations for the Clippers, addressed the Griffin speculation directly by declaring he has no interest in trading the former No. 1 overall pick.
“It’s funny, you don’t want to go out and send out a press release every time there is a rumor about Blake,” Rivers told Wojnarowski when asked about the Griffin rumors. “We are hoping that Blake ends his career playing for the Clippers. Period. So when teams call, we say we have no interest. First of all, no team is calling right now, because teams know we don’t have any interest.”
Rivers also downplayed the rumblings that the Celtics were targeting the 27-year-old power forward.
“Danny [Ainge] and I have talked twice this summer,” Rivers said. “One was about the British Open, and one was about another golf tournament. That’s about it.”
Griffin has the ability to become a free agent after the 2016-17 season if he elects to opt out of the final year of his five-year pact with the Clippers. That potential scenario and a tumultuous 2015-16 campaign has kept the 6-foot-10 forward’s name in trade rumors since last February’s trade deadline. With Wojnarowski, Rivers appeared upbeat about the odds that the Clippers will keep Griffin and teammate Chris Paul long-term.
“I’m confident [Griffin and Paul want to stay],” Rivers said. “Probably the same way every team’s confident that they’re going to be able to keep their guys. I do think we have an attractive place. We have a new owner. It’d be interesting if Steve Ballmer wasn’t the owner, I don’t know how confident I’d be. But with Steve I’m extremely confident that we can keep both.”
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