Bucks HC Doc Rivers Says He Advised Clippers to Make James Harden Trade with 76ers

The Los Angeles Clippers may have fired Doc Rivers in 2020, but there appear to be no hard feelings between the two sides.

The current Milwaukee Bucks head coach revealed Clippers brass reached out before acquiring James Harden from the Philadelphia 76ers in October.

"I was the one, obviously, they consulted," Rivers told Tomer Azarly of ClutchPoints. "They made calls and I was one of the guys who said it would be a great deal for them because I thought he fit them better than he would fit the Sixers team. I think he's a perfect fit there.

"It's a league. We talk. They just talked, asked questions, and I was on board early."

Rivers coached Harden for parts of two seasons with the 76ers. The pair did not end things on particularly strong terms, with Harden and Rivers disagreeing about the All-Star guard's style of play.

Philadelphia fired Rivers after the 2022-23 season amid consecutive second-round playoff exits with Harden and Joel Embiid serving as co-stars.

Rivers then spent the first half of this season as a game analyst for ESPN before the Bucks hired him after the surprising midseason firing of Adrian Griffin. In a sense, Rivers' advice wound up creating a hole in the lineup for one of his current team's rivals. The Sixers would likely be in a much better place at the moment with Harden and Tyrese Maxey manning the offensive fort with Embiid out of the lineup.

The Harden trade has certainly worked out for the Clippers, who went into the All-Star break with a 36-17 record and sit just two games out of first place in the Western Conference.