Doc Rivers Deal Bans Celtics, Clippers From Making Any Trades Until After 2013-14 Season

Kevin Garnett has to be wondering what in the world happened.

A week ago, Garnett was supposedly headed to Los Angeles with Doc Rivers, who would take over as coach of the Clippers and take a shot at winning another title with “The Big Ticket.” Instead, Rivers has gone west while Garnett is stuck in Boston, where the Celtics organization is in flux.

Garnett’s options now are to play for the Celtics, to accept a trade to a different team or to retire. Wherever he ends up, it will not be with the Clippers. As a condition of approving the agreement that sent the Clippers’ 2015 first-round pick to the Celtics for the rights to hire Rivers, the NBA prohibited the teams from making any trades with each other until the end of the 2013-14 season.

Garnett, who makes his offseason home in Malibu, Calif., goes from playing for a potential championship contender close to home to now being in limbo on a team with an uncertain direction. That is not a place the 37-year-old wants to be.