Ray Allen: Doc Rivers Called Off Chris Paul Trade to Celtics in 2011

If not for Doc Rivers, Chris Paul might have joined the Boston Celtics ahead of the 2011-12 campaign, according to a new book from Ray Allen.

On Monday, Sean Deveney of Sporting News shared excerpts from Allen's book From the Outside: My Journey through Life and the Game I Love, which is due out in two weeks and was written with Michael Arkush.

In one of those excerpts, Allen said Rivers didn't want to trade Rajon Rondo to New Orleans for Paul because of his relationship with then-Pelicans head coach Monty Williams.

"In the end, Doc decided he couldn't do that to their coach, Monty Williams. Doc was a mentor to Monty, having coached him in Orlando," Allen explained.    

It's notable that Rondo would have been shipped to New Orleans, as Allen delves into his relationship with the mercurial point guard in his book. Allen initially served as a veteran mentor to Rondo, but Deveney said their relationship was "in tatters" by 2011.

"Allen describes Rondo as a player who expected that he would be treated as a leader without having done the work to deserve the role, and describes the Celtics as an organization that could not figure out how to handle Rondo," Deveney wrote.

After the trade fell through, Allen said Rivers elected to build the offense around Rondo, and he called the following season "the most stressful by far. It got to the point that Rondo would not even throw the ball to me."

The idea of Paul landing on the Celtics before the lockout-shortened 2011-12 season is an intriguing game of "What if?" for NBA fans. New Orleans ultimately shipped him to the Los Angeles Clippers, but a Boston team that took the Heat to seven games in the Eastern Conference Finals would have had one of the best point guards of his generation leading the way had the trade happened.

While Rondo averaged 11.7 assists per game that season, Paul shot 37.1 percent from three-point range compared to 23.8 from Rondo. Paul also averaged 2.5 steals per game compared to Rondo's 1.8 and would have been able to harass the Heat's perimeter ball-handlers.

Additionally, Paul may have provided Boston more long-term stability at point guard. He remained with the Clippers until the end of the 2016-17 season, while the Celtics traded Rondo to the Dallas Mavericks in 2014.