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Doc Rivers May Leave Clippers if Donald Sterling Remains Owner

Interim CEO Richard Parsons reveals coach's plans during court hearing to determine team ownership.
Doc Rivers, Donald Sterling, Los Angeles Clippers

Thearon W. Henderson/Getty Images, Stephen Dunn/Getty Images

Doc Rivers Admits Clippers Were Distracted by Donald Sterling - Fresh off of leading the Los Angeles Clippers to a first-round playoff series victory over the Golden State Warriors, Doc Rivers admitted that the news of Clippers owner Donald Sterling’s racist remarks was a “distraction” to his players. "This was a distraction," Rivers said to Michael Wilbon during ESPN’s Sunday Conversation. "In our first meeting after the tapes came out and we had a meeting before practice, and when I walked in that room and looked at [the players'] faces, it was bothering them. They were angry. They wanted to do something. As a coach, I had to think about it. I'm not going to kid you. I walked out with my gear on, because I needed the players to see me with the gear on, but it wasn't easy to do it on that day. Because at that moment, at that time, you're representing something else, and you didn't want to and that was hard."(Photos from Left: Thearon W. Henderson/Getty Images, Stephen Dunn/Getty Images)
By Latifah Muhammad
July 22, 2014 / 5:59 PM

Los Angeles Clippers coach Doc Rivers is ready to leave the team if Donald Sterling remains owner, the Associated Press reports.

In court Tuesday (July 22) Clippers interim CEO Richard Parsons testified that Rivers will indeed quit if the team is not sold. "Doc is troubled by this maybe more so than anybody else," Parsons sad. "If Mr. Sterling continues as owner, he does not want to continue as coach."

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer put up $2 billion to buy the team but proceedings have been held up by Sterling's refusal to relinquish ownership to his wife, Shelly Sterling. A trial is being held to determine whether or not the real estate mogul is unfit to keep control of the Clippers and ultimately force the sale.

Rivers reportedly heard that some employees were considering working for Sterling, even after his racist comments were exposed online. Within two weeks of the recording coming out, NBA commissioner Adam Silver banned Sterling from the NBA, fined him more than $2 million, and ordered him to sell the team.

A clause in the family trust allows for either Sterling or his wife to take full control of the team, provided that one of them is mentally unable to maintain the responsibility. Two doctors determined that the disgraced Clippers owner suffers from Alzheimer's, which he has denied. 

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(Photos from Left: Thearon W. Henderson/Getty Images, Stephen Dunn/Getty Images)

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