Rivers discusses Sterling's postseason impact, Griffin wants quick resolution

The Los Angeles Clippers' postseason run ended Thursday night, but a dark cloud still looms over the franchise as the NBA is reportedly set for a lengthy legal battle with Donald Sterling, who is refusing the league's sanctions against him and is prepared to sue in an attempt to maintain ownership of the team.

Sterling's racial remarks, which were leaked by TMZ on April 26, were a huge distraction to the Clippers throughout the first two rounds of the playoffs. From their game on April 27 to Thursday's season-ending loss, it's been clear that the Sterling scandal has been emotionally draining.

However, head coach Doc Rivers is proud of how his players and the city of Los Angeles dealt with the distraction.

"It's nothing that anybody wants to go through, nothing I want to go through," Rivers said. "Overall, I thought our fan base and I thought the city and I thought our guys really hung in there. Very proud of them. The locker room was not very good after the game, in a very sad way."

"You know, just watching our guys, it just felt like all the stuff that they've gone through, they kind of released all their emotions. That was tough. That was tough to see for me as one of their leaders. Wish I could have done more for them."

Matt Barnes echoed Rivers' sentiments.

"Playoffs are hard enough physically," Barnes said. "But emotionally I think our team was stressed to the max."

Rivers is also optimistic that Adam Silver and the NBA will deal with Sterling appropriately, although he's anticipating a "messy summer" in terms of free agency.

"I have a ton of faith in our league that we'll try to get it straight," Rivers said. "But we'll see. As far as how it affects us in bringing others in, I don't even know the answer to that. I just have a lot of faith."

Blake Griffin, meanwhile, just wants things to move along quickly so he doesn't have to consider whether or not he'd play for Sterling next season:

If it still is, I'll make a decision then. It's not something that's ideal. Personally, I don't know all the ins and outs of everything. I hear stuff just like everybody else does, but I don't know what's really true or not. It's up to [the league], but I don't think that's an ideal situation for us, to start next season with that still going on.
...

Personally, I think the longer it lasts, the worse it's going to be. I think something should happen and I think it should happen quickly. I think guys need to make decisions. I don't think anybody wants this to drag out except for one or two people. I think it needs to be swift.

Sterling may have been a postseason distraction but he looms as a major focal point of the offseason, too, unfortunately.