 The Boston Celtics want to keep coach Doc Rivers for the years to come and are willing to pay top dollar ... to the tune of $35 million for the next five years, reports NBA.com.
When the new contract extension is official, which is expected to be finalized next week, Rivers would become the highest-paid head coach beginning next season.
The Celtics head coach wants to spend the remainder of his coaching career in Boston, where he's been since 2004, and won an NBA championship in 2008 and the Finals last season.
According to TNT analyst David Aldridge, the "move means the Celtics, who lost in the second round of the playoffs to Miami, likely won't make drastic personnel changes for next season, though they are likely to try and add a couple of new pieces to their aging roster and provide help for the Big Three of Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce and Ray Allen."
A source told Aldridge that Rivers is heavily influenced by the career arc of former Jazz coach Jerry Sloan, who spent his last 21 head coaching seasons in Salt Lake City before abruptly resigning last Feburary. Rivers wants to remain the coach in Boston after the run of Pierce, Garnett and Allen is over; and has formed a very strong bond with Celtics president Danny Ainge, who hired Rivers and stuck with him through losing seasons from 2005 to 2007.
"Doc has always known that we've wanted him and that offer was on the table," Ainge told Boston reporters Friday. "I would say that, early in the playoffs, as the playoffs first started, we started that conversation again. He understood it was important for me to know what he wanted to do, because [the off season] is a long process and there's a lot of things going on in the summer. He spent some time with his family and made his decision a little earlier this time."
Rivers' Celtics lost in the second round of the playoffs this season at the hands of the Miami Heat.
The new deal would give Rivers a salary higher than any other coach -- including the Knicks' Mike D'Antoni (entering the last year of his four-year, $24 million deal). Lakers' Phil Jackson was paid $10 million this season, which he says is his final year as a coach.
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