National Basketball Association

Report: NBA OKs Celtics-Clips deal

Published Jun. 23, 2013 1:00 a.m. ET

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The Los Angeles Clippers-Boston Celtics proposed deal that would send coach Doc Rivers to Los Angeles has been approved by the NBA, according to an ESPN report.

Yahoo! reported Sunday that the Clippers would send a 2015 first-round draft pick to the Celtics for the right to hire Rivers, who has three years and $21 million left on his contract with Boston. The Clippers and Rivers have agreed on a three-year, $21 million contract, according to Yahoo!

According to Monday's ESPN report, it's now up to the two teams to make the announcement that the deal is official.

The on-again, off-again talks had been in the works for over a week now and at one point reportedly included Celtics forward Kevin Garnett as well as Clippers center DeAndre Jordan.

The teams believed they had a deal in place earlier this week that would have brought Rivers and Garnett to LA for Jordan and two first-round picks, but NBA commissioner David Stern said it was not permitted under the collective bargaining agreement because a coach can't be included as part of a trade involving a player.

On Friday, Rivers told the Clippers that he was no longer interested in the position.

But sources told Yahoo! that pressure from star point guard Chris Paul over the weekend ultimately led the Clippers to reconsider sending an unprotected first-round pick to Boston in order to land Rivers.

Boston newspapers reported that Rivers left Boston on Friday afternoon and returned to his offseason home in Orlando.

The Los Angeles Times contributed to this report.