Doc Rivers invites tampering investigation, dares league to fine him

The Clippers had a summer filled with new acquisitions, some more high-profile than others, and that was especially true for Doc Rivers.

The head coach entering his seventh season in Los Angeles not only had a busy summer in his professional life but also in his personal life, as his daughter Callie married Dallas Mavericks guard Seth Curry. The couple has a one-year-old daughter, who could legitimately be one of the greatest athletes of all time given the talent in her bloodline.

Rivers joked earlier this summer that he has to be the first coach in NBA history to have paid for the wedding of another NBA player, and it wasn’t cheap.

It’s worth noting that Marc Spears reported that Rivers “said he has no problem paying for the wedding” after the couple’s engagement in February.

Nevertheless, Rivers told Rachel Nichols at the Clippers’ media day Sunday that he would like the league to investigate if financing an opposing player’s wedding was untoward behavior, and hopefully refund him for the expense. There has been no comment yet from Rivers’ son-in-law, who signed a 4-year $32 million deal with Dallas this offseason.

The NBA’s Board of Governors has had to address familial relationships before, such as when the Lakers’ Jeanie Buss and Phil Jackson, then president of basketball operations with the Knicks, were unable to talk about work matters while they were engaged. It’s probably safe to say that the topic of intra-league weddings did not arise during the most recent tampering meeting.

What was discussed at that meeting were some updates to the league’s tampering policy. Now, team officials will no longer be penalized for simply praising a player on an opposing team.

Rivers had previously been fined for comparing Kawhi Leonard to Michael Jordan during NBA Finals coverage. That $50,000 turned out to be a pretty sound investment for the Clippers. Whatever he spent on the Rivers-Curry wedding probably will be, too.