Report: Clippers nearing deal to hire Doc Rivers, send first-round pick to Celtics

Celtics coach Doc Rivers is reportedly negotiating a five-year, $35-million contract with the Clippers. (Andrew D. Bernstein/Getty Images)

The on-again, off-again deal between the Los Angeles Clippers and Boston Celtics is close to coming together, with the Clippers offering a future first-round draft pick to Boston for the rights to hire Doc Rivers as their head coach, Yahoo! Sports' Adrian Wojnarowski is reporting.

Two days after the deal was called dead, talks resumed on Sunday and the teams are "nearing an agreement," according to the report.

Rivers and Clippers management are discussing a five-year, $35-million contract for the same annual salary that Rivers is scheduled to make with the Celtics on his current three-year, $21-million deal.

From the report:

Rivers told the Clippers that he was no longer interested in the position on Friday, but pressure from the franchise's star player, Chris Paul, stayed strong on Clippers management over the weekend and Los Angeles reconsidered its unwillingness to give Boston a first-round pick, sources said.

The NBA will still need to approve the deal.

Rivers had gone into the weekend planning to decide his future with the Celtics, and sources said he had been leaning strongly toward returning next season to fulfill the three years and $21 million left on his contract. With the Celtics moving into a rebuilding phase, several sources told Yahoo! Sports that Boston management preferred draft-pick compensation over paying for an elite coach.

The Celtics have agreed to accept a 2015 unprotected first-round draft pick, Wojnarowski reports.

https://twitter.com/WojYahooNBA/status/348915123961864193

Reports of discussions between the two teams emerged on June 15, when the deal was rumored to include big men DeAndre Jordan and Kevin Garnett and potentially rising Clippers point guard Eric Bledsoe.

But the NBA blocked the trade, citing league rules against coaches being involved in trades.

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