Chris Paul Reportedly Told Clippers He Was Signing With Rockets When Doc Rivers Talks Stalled

The LA Clippers, according to a report from Grantland, avoid a calamity this summer when they finally relented and hired head coach Doc Rivers. A very unhappy Chris Paul reportedly threatened to sign with the Houston Rockets when negotiations with Rivers were presumably dead: “To Chris Paul, who basically told the Clippers that after they squashed the first incarnation of their Doc Rivers trade. Chris didn’t like that. He let them know he was heading to Houston to team up with Dwight (Howard.) And he wasn’t kidding. For about 36 hours, (Daryl) Morey probably felt like all 11 guys in Ocean’s Eleven. You know what happened next: The Clippers blinked, the Doc trade got revived and finished, and the Clippers were offering Chris 107 million reasons to play for him. Crisis averted. The lesson, as always: Chris Paul runs the Clippers.”