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What might be the most controversial move of the year is finally coming to fruition. After waiting at home for Boston's inevitable trade call, Austin Rivers is finally coming home. The deal was widely expected to be completed today, but the details of the trade did not become clear till early this afternoon.
Phoenix's Shavlik Randolph has been traded to Boston, with Reggie Bullock to Phoenix, Austin Rivers to Clippers, league sources tell RealGM.
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) January 15, 2015
Dan Woike later reported that Chris-Douglas Roberts would also be sent to Boston, which was confirmed by a Celtics reporter.
Source: Final take from Clippers deal is Shav Randolph, who will stay on roster, and 2017 pick. Also Chris D-R, who will be waived.
— Mark Murphy (@Murf56) January 15, 2015
Marc Stein also reported that Jordan Farmar would be waived. The Clippers signed Farmar using their biannual exception and expected him to be a reliable backup point guard, replacing the departed Darren Collison. Unfortunately, that dream never materialized during his short tenure with the team — per 82games, his on-off differential of -16.3 was the lowest of anyone on the team.
Reggie Bullock was selected by the Clippers in the 2013 NBA Draft as a potential 3-and-D wing, but never really found himself during his tenure with the Clippers. Although he was shooting almost 39% from beyond the arc this year, he only played in 25 games and never emerged as the consensus backup small forward the team had hoped for him to be. Marc Stein earlier reported that the Suns were interested in Bullock and had long coveted him.
Bullock said he felt like he never really got a true opportunity with LAC, largely because of injuries during rookie season & last summer.
— Dan Woike (@DanWoikeSports) January 15, 2015
CDR, meanwhile, was a minimum contract who the Clips decided to take a flyer on late in the summer. He also was unable to maintain his effective level of play from last season. This move leaves the Clippers with only one small forward on the roster, after having four through most of training camp (cutting Joe Ingles). It's likely that more moves are still coming, with Andrei Kirilenko still in NBA purgatory and Tayshaun Prince also expected to be released by the Celtics.
Austin Rivers will become the first NBA player to play under his father (Coby and George Karl were both briefly on the Nuggets, but Coby remained inactive and Coach Karl had taken a leave of medical absence). Despite being a third-year player, Rivers is still a year younger than Bullock, and he also had a higher PER thus far this season.
The impact and repercussions of the trade have already been touched upon by Steve elsewhere, and we'll have more analysis coming.
Update: The Celtics have released Nate Robinson. If he clears waivers, he's widely expected to land on the Clippers, although it remains to be seen if and how Doc will assign minutes to both Robinson and Rivers.
Boston has formally placed PG Nate Robinson on free agency waivers, league sources tell RealGM. Robinson will scan suitors once he clears.
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) January 15, 2015
The Clippers plan to move Jordan Farmar by the end of the day (trade or waive) and go after Nate Robinson.
— Arash Markazi (@ArashMarkazi) January 15, 2015
Update 2: The Farmar situation is still up in the air at the moment, although we know he'll be out of here, by hook or by crook.
The Clippers and guard Jordan Farmar hope to have a contract buyout completed tonight, a source told Yahoo.
— Marc J. Spears (@SpearsNBAYahoo) January 16, 2015