Austin Rivers Trade Includes Bullock and Randolph
The Austin Rivers trade now has terms and involves more former Tobacco Road players than originally thought. That later feat was accomplished by the addition of the Phoenix Suns into the trade involving the Los Angeles Clippers and Boston Celtics.
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The Austin Rivers Trade
The Clippers received Rivers, the 6’5” combo guard and son of coach Doc Rivers. The Celtics received wing Chris Douglas-Roberts and a second round draft pick in 2017 from the Clippers and former Duke player Shavlik Randolph from the Suns. The Celtics also created $2.4 million trade exemption to help iron out a future deal. The Suns received wing Reggie Bullock, the North Carolina Tar Heel product, to complete the deal.
The Clippers will still have to cut backup point guard Jordan Farmar to make the cap room work. That will leave the Clippers in an interesting position. They will have had to shed wing players, which they were already short of, to acquire another backcourt guy. Their depth will be tested, although they might be able to bring Douglas-Roberts back if the Celtics waive him as expected. That assumes that the Clippers have any cap room at all.
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The Other Players
Randolph will add more frontcourt depth for a Boston franchise that continues to wheel and deal for more flexibility now that Rajon Rondo is no longer the centerpiece there. It is easy to imagine that president of basketball operations Danny Ainge is not done yet with the deals.
Bullock will fit well with a Phoenix team that is looking for guys who can run the court. Bullock can shoot, a Phoenix staple, and has the ability to be a wing defender with his length. He was more or less buried on the Clippers bench or injured during his first two seasons.
Douglas-Roberts will likely be waived by the Celtics and become a free agent. If that does happen, there is no better place for him to go than back to Charlotte where he was a contributor last year.