Doc Rivers will leave the Los Angeles Clippers as head coach if Donald Sterling remains owner, according to interim Clippers CEO Dick Parsons.
Parsons expressed his opinion when he was called as a witness in the trial determining if Sterling’s wife, Shelly, was right to sell the franchise to Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer for a record $2 billion (Dh7.3 billion).
After saying he talked to Rivers, a number of players and sponsors, Parsons believes the organisation would be in turmoil if Sterling continues to own the team and it would “accelerate the death spiral” if Rivers departed.
“Doc is troubled by this maybe more so than anybody else,” Parsons said about Rivers, one of seven black head coaches in the NBA currently.
“If Mr. Sterling continues as owner, he does not want to continue as coach and, if Doc were to leave, that would be a disaster,” he added. “Doc is the father figure, the one who leads.”
Rivers stabilised the franchise on the sidelines and internally in the wake of Sterling receiving a lifetime ban from the NBA after his racist comments on minorities surfaced on April 25.
Los Angeles were in the opening round of the playoffs and Rivers focused his squad to edge the Golden State Warriors in seven games before falling to the Oklahoma City Thunder in six in the Western Conference semi-finals.
Aside from Rivers and the players, Parson stated that many of the team’s sponsors have contacted him to say they’ll continue with the Clippers only if Sterling departs.
“If your coach leaves, if your players don’t want to play with you, what do you have?” asked Parsons. “If your sponsors leave and the fans leave, it’s going to spiral down and down.”
If the current sale of the team is overturned, Parsons also believes the franchise will have a difficult time getting a better price later on than the haul they received from Ballmer.
Anwar Zakkour, an investment banker involved in brokering the sale, backed up Parsons’ sentiments, saying: “This is the highest price ever achieved for a sports team. However way you count it, this is an amazing price that anyone should be satisfied with.”
Sterling’s lawyer, Bobby Samini, claimed his client has no intention of letting down in his resistance to hand over the franchise.
“He has no desire to destroy the team,” Samini said of Sterling. “He is fighting to protect his rights.”
Sterling bought the Clippers in 1981 for $12.5m (Dh45.9m) and is the longest-tenured owner at 33 years.
In that time, Los Angeles have reached the playoffs only six times with three of those trips coming each of the last three seasons.
