Doc Rivers, head coach and president of basketball operations for the Clippers, on Friday traded forward Josh Smith back to the Houston Rockets for the draft rights to Maarty Leunen, a 6-foot-9 forward who currently plays for Scandone Avellino of the Italian Serie A.

This was in no way surprising.

Smith had played in just four of the previous 14 games before the Clippers (28-15) took on and routed the New York Knicks 116-88 on Friday night at Madison Square Garden in New York City. Smith this season had a shouting match with assistant coach Mike Woodson after one game and an in-game verbal row with Rivers during another.

Rivers spoke about his decision to send Smith packing before the Clippers beat the Knicks.

“Obviously, I wanted Josh to work out, it just didn’t for us,” said Rivers, whose team next plays at Toronto on Sunday at 3 p.m. (on Prime Ticket). “Like I said earlier, he was very good, a good teammate and all that, but it just doesn’t work and so we wanted to go in another direction.”

Rivers said Smith took the news well.

“He was great,” Rivers said. “I thought he was great throughout. We decided to go in another direction with Cole (Aldrich). Cole played well and we started winning games and Josh was great in the locker room, great in practices, so he was a professional.”

Aldrich took Smith’s spot in the rotation on Dec. 19 when it became apparent Smith was not adhering to what Rivers wanted him to do on the court, and has played more than well enough to make Smith expendable.

The Clippers signed Smith, 30, during the offseason to a veteran’s minimum one-year contract. He averaged 5.7 points and 3.9 rebounds in 32 games (one start) with the Clippers. He has career scoring and rebounding averages of 16.2 and 8.3, respectively, but that’s at an average of 32.9 minutes. He averaged only 14.3 minutes with the Clippers.

The Rockets also received the draft rights to forward Sergei Lishouck and cash considerations. Lishouck currently plays for UCAM Murcia in Spain.

Ayres joins team

Forward Jeff Ayres, who played his high school ball at Etiwanda in Rancho Cucamonga, signed a 10-day contract with the Clippers.

Ayres, who is 6-9, had played 23 games this season for the Idaho Stampede of the NBA Development League. He averaged 16.3 points and 9.5 rebounds.

Ayres, 28, has played in 220 career NBA games with Portland, Indiana and San Antonio and was part of the Spurs’ 2014 championship team. His career scoring and rebounding averages are 3.0 and 2.8, respectively.

Ayres for now will take the roster spot left open by Josh Smith, who on Friday was traded back to the Houston Rockets.

Big difference

The Clippers were beaten 115-102 on Thursday at Cleveland. Rivers intimated the way his team played that night as compared to what it did Friday was night and day.

“We made shots,” Rivers said. “We played harder. We didn’t have a 100 game-plan mistakes. We can lose games, we can live with that. But when you have game-plan mistakes, its just inexcusable.

“The Cleveland game, we could have shown film forever today and we had to stop it. That’s what we still have to get better at, and then seeing the next action.”

Scouting the Raptors

Toronto (28-15) enters on a seven-game winning streak. The Raptors are led by guard DeMar DeRozan, who is averaging 23.3 points. Point guard Kyle Lowry is averaging 20.7 points, 5.4 assists and 2.3 steals.

Toronto defeated the Clippers 91-80 on Nov. 22 at Staples Center.