Doc Rivers: Memphis backed out of Ray Allen for O.J. Mayo deal



Doc Rivers reaffirmed why O.J. Mayo didn’t become a Celtic last season.

On WEEI Thursday morning, Doc Rivers said Memphis backed out of the deal that that would have swapped Mayo for Ray Allen.



One could argue this trade that almost went down was the final straw that broke Allen’s back and why he is now with the Miami Heat.

Both Allen and Mayo were on expiring contracts so whether or not Mayo would have re-upped in Boston is up for debate. The Celtics did approach Mayo in the offseason as a free agent, but they had already signed Jason Terry and decided to trade for Courtney Lee instead of wait on Mayo to decide.

Mayo is having a pretty good year in Dallas averaging 17.8 ppg, 4.3 apg, 3.8 rpg and a PER of 16.51. He does have a player option for next year so if the Mavericks (19-26) don’t look like they are going in the right direction, he could come on the market again. Not sure if that would matter to the Celtics since they signed Terry and Lee to long-term deals.

Had Boston acquired Mayo, I’m curious how that move would have impacted Avery Bradley’s development. Bradley took over for Allen last season because of injury and the team really turned it around so much so that Allen was relegated to the bench when he was healthy again.

It’s safe to say Bradley will be the starting shooting guard of the future with Boston so if Mayo did join up he would have to go back to the bench, something he wasn’t too happy doing in Memphis.