Donald Sterling is a tyrant. Worse, he’s a tyrannical fool.
The Los Angeles Clippers owner has long been known for his despotic and often-senseless rule. Logic isn’t always a part of his thought process and before Chris Paul’s arrival, he was known for pinching pennies and escorts’ asses (kidding, I think), not building a winner.
For the last two years or so, that’s all changed. Los Angeles has invested serious money in overthrowing the Los Angeles Lakers as the best team in the Pacific Division. Blake Griffin signed a massive contract, DeAndre Jordan was overpaid and Paul is owed six figures over the next five years.
Things were, things are still looking up. Doc Rivers has brought his championship pedigree to the sidelines, the Clippers are fresh off a first division title and they’ve added some serious depth since the games that mattered last convened. The most notable acquisition was J.J. Redick, a sharp-shooting guard who allows Rivers to do what he never could with the Boston Celtics and space floor. He came over in the trade that sent Eric Bledsoe to the Phoenix Suns.
According to Yahoo! Sports’ Adrian Wojnarowski, we can also call that the trade that almost didn’t happen:
In the early afternoon hours of July 3, owner Donald Sterling called Los Angeles Clippers president Andy Roeser and informed him he had rescinded approval on moving Eric Bledsoe and acquiring free agent J.J. Redick in a sign-and-trade agreement. The three-team deal – delivered the owner’s blessing only two days earlier – no longer interested Sterling.
Call it off, Sterling instructed Roeser, league sources told Yahoo Sports.
Deal’s dead.
It didn’t matter the news had broken 24 hours earlier of the Clippers sending Bledsoe and Caron Butler to the Phoenix Suns with the Suns’ Jared Dudley and Milwaukee’s Redick, on a four-year, $27 million contract, joining Los Angeles. It didn’t matter the public had been praising Doc Rivers’ first deal as the new senior vice president of basketball operations and coach, that Rivers and general manager Gary Sacks had given their word to teams, agents and players that this was a finalized agreement.
A few years ago, this behavior would have seemed typical. On some level, it still is. Typical of Sterling. Not the Clippers. They have become something better than their owner—respectable. And to Sterling’s credit, he had remained in the shadows for quite some time. Headlines detailing erroneous acts and management were kept to a minimum, if they existed at all. He finally seemed to learn the best way for him to “run” his franchise was to sit down and remain tight-lipped.
Then this, an attempt to veto one of the biggest deals of the summer. The trade that helped define Los Angeles’ offseason. Wow.
As we know, the trade went down anyway. Per Woj, the deal was revived thanks in large part to Rivers, who had been lobbying for Redick’s arrival before Sterling put his foot down. What made Sterling come around? That much is unclear, though Woj says there are people who believe a steadfast refusal by Sterling to change his stance would have resulted in Rivers resigning.
Mercifully, it didn’t get that far. Not only will Rivers be walking the sidelines, the Clippers pushed the trade through and dodged the wrath of Sterling.
This time.
Dan Favale is a firm believer in the three-pointer as well as the notion that defense doesn’t always win championships. His musings can be found at Bleacherreport.com in addition to TheHoopDoctors.com. Follow @danfavale on Twitter for his latest posts and all things NBA.
