Doc Rivers has agreed to terms on a three-year, $21 million contract with the Los Angeles Clippers, ending weeks of dysfunctional and muddled negotiations, league sources told Yahoo! Sports.

After the Clippers re-started talks on Sunday with the offer of a first-round draft pick to the Celtics for compensation, talks rapidly progressed and Los Angeles agreed to send Boston its unprotected 2015 first-round selection.

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Clippers free-agent guard Chris Paul kept lobbying franchise management to pursue Rivers throughout the past week. Paul hasn't formally committed to signing a five-year maximum contract in July, but Rivers is taking the job with full knowledge that he'll be coaching Paul, sources said.

The possibility of Boston Celtics forward Kevin Garnett reuniting with Rivers in Los Angeles is a remote possibility, largely because of the NBA's unwillingness to approve a trade that suspiciously looks like an extension of the coaching transaction.

As the Celtics-Clippers discussions dragged on, Garnett – who had to waive his no-trade clause – had become increasingly less interested in making the move to the Clippers, sources said.

Garnett has two years, $24.4 million left on his Celtics deal, but there's a growing belief that he'll play one more season before retiring and joining his old coach, Flip Saunders, with a ceremonial role in Minnesota Timberwolves ownership, league sources told Y! Sports.

"The opportunity will be there for him," one source said, "but there's nothing decided yet."

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The Celtics have to make a decision before June 30 if they want to buy out the remaining $15 million on Paul Pierce's contract for $5 million, but Boston is finding that scenario less and less likely, sources told Yahoo! Sports. There's been enough trade interest from contending teams who still see the 35-year-old Pierce as a plausible third offensive option, sources said.

The Denver Nuggets called the Celtics on Saturday – the second time in two weeks – to inquire about trying to hire Rivers as coach, league sources told Yahoo! Sports. The Nuggets had been willing to give the Celtics a first-round pick as compensation and were prepared to make Rivers a competitive offer with the $7 million per season he made in Boston, sources told Yahoo! Sports.

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