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In the early afternoon hours of July 3, owner Donald Sterling called Los Angeles Clippers president Andy Roeser and informed him he had rescinded approval on moving Eric Bledsoe and acquiring free agent J.J. Redick in a sign-and-trade agreement. The three-team deal – delivered the owner's blessing only two days earlier – no longer interested Sterling.Call it off, Sterling instructed Roeser, league sources told Yahoo Sports.Deal's dead.It didn't matter the news had broken 24 hours earlier of the Clippers sending Bledsoe and Caron Butler to the Phoenix Suns with the Suns' Jared Dudley and Milwaukee's Redick, on a four-year, $27 million contract, joining Los Angeles. It didn't matter the public had been praising Doc Rivers' first deal as the new senior vice president of basketball operations and coach, that Rivers and general manager Gary Sacks had given their word to teams, agents and players that this was a finalized agreement.
Rivers contract gave him ultimate management authority on deals, and several sources dealing with the Clippers say that Rivers was beyond embarrassed and humiliated. He feared the unraveling of the deal would cost him his credibility and paralyze him in future trade and negotiation talks, sources said.
Rivers' job was to convince the owner – for a second time, in this instance – and there were those who believed a flat refusal on Sterling's behalf could've resulted with Rivers' resignation.
This just highlights why I can't root for the Clippers, such an awful owner.
Oh no worries, Donald Sterling will strike and make a fool of Doc at some point. It's just a matter of when.