Austin Rivers Says There Will Be 'Fireworks' When Clippers Play Rockets

Austin Rivers told TMZ Sports to expect "fireworks" when the Los Angeles Clippers play the Houston Rockets next season after Chris Paul joined James Harden and Co. following six seasons in Hollywood. 

"Business and basketball are two different things," Rivers said. "They say don't take it personal, but everybody does."

Rivers also compared the Clippers' eventual showdown with Paul and the Rockets to when Kevin Durant made his return trip to Oklahoma City last year with the Golden State Warriors. 

"You saw what happened when the Warriors played the Thunder this year. There was a lot of emotion in there.

"I don't think it'll be quite like that but it'll definitely be a lot of fireworks that game if I had to take a guess."

Rivers' comments come 10 days after SportsCenter's Michael Eaves reported a rift between Paul and Clippers head coach Doc Rivers. 

According to Eaves, Paul "felt Doc treated Austin more favorably than other players. He would yell at guys for certain things during games and practices, but not get on Austin in the same manner for similar transgressions."

Eaves also reported Paul's relationship with Doc was fractured after he nixed a trade that would have sent Austin to the New York Knicks as part of a package for Carmelo Anthony. 

Rivers later denounced those accounts as "false:"

Following Paul's departure, Doc told ESPN's Ramona Shelburne he was turned off by the point guard's decision to bolt for Houston: 

"That part is over. And that bugs me. But we're not done trying to reach our goal. Sometimes you gotta do it a different way. Because the way we tried to do it didn't work.

"Was I disappointed with his decision? Yeah. I thought he had a better chance to win with us. He didn't agree with that. And that's fine, too. ... But ain't nobody at fault. The fault is we didn't do well enough to keep him. We played a role in that. In not winning. But Chris was part of that, too. He was on that team that didn't win."

While Paul adjusts to life with the Rockets, the Clippers will welcome Milos Teodosic to the fold after the seasoned European floor general inked a two-year, $12.3 million deal to take over as the new conductor of Rivers' offense, per ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski. 

The 30-year-old likely won't be able to fill the void Paul left in the scoring department, but his heralded court vision should make him an ideal pick-and-roll partner for Blake Griffin and DeAndre Jordan as the Clippers aim to cross the 50-win threshold for the sixth straight season.