<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"><html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en">    <head>        <script>   (function(i, s, o, g, r, a, m) {     i["GoogleAnalyticsObject"] = r;     i[r] = i[r] || function() {       (i[r].q = i[r].q || []).push(arguments)     }, i[r].l = 1 * new Date();     a = s.createElement(o),       m = s.getElementsByTagName(o)[0];     a.async = 1;     a.src = g;     m.parentNode.insertBefore(a, m)   })(window, document, "script", "https://www.google-analytics.com/analytics.js", "ga");   ga('create', 'UA-66147751-16', {     'storage': 'none',     'clientId': localStorage.getItem('ga:clientId')   });   ga(function(tracker) {     localStorage.setItem('ga:clientId', tracker.get('clientId'));   });   ga('set', 'checkProtocolTask', null);      ga('set', 'page', '/warriors-news-austin-rivers-absolutely-destroys-dubs-over-klay-thompson-treatment');   ga('set', 'title', 'Austin Rivers absolutely destroys Warriors over Klay Thompson treatment');   ga('send', 'pageview');</script>        <style type="text/css" media="all">            body {    background: transparent;    margin: 0px;}h1, h2, h3 {    color: #DDDDDD;    font-family: "SFUIText-Semibold";    margin: 30px 15px 15px 15px;    font-size: 21px;    line-height: 125%;    letter-spacing: -0.41px;}header {    margin: 0px;    height: 0px;    display: none;}p {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 15px 15px 15px 15px;    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;}p > img {    margin-left: -15px;    width: calc(100% + 30px);}a {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.8);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;    text-decoration: underline;}ul {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 3px 10px 3px 10px;    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;}ol {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;}img {    margin: 0px;    width: 100%;    height: auto;}blockquote {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.8);    font-family: "SFUIText-Medium";    margin: 30px 15px 30px 15px;    font-size: 19px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.41px;}blockquote p {    margin: 0px;}.op-tracker, .op-ad {    display: none;    height: 0px;}article > figure {    margin: 0px;}figcaption {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 10px 15px 30px 15px;    font-size: 13px;}iframe {    width: __SCREEN_SIZE_WIDTH__;    margin: 0px;    border: 0;}.vine-embed {    height: __SCREEN_SIZE_WIDTH__;}.twitter-tweet, .instagram-media {    margin-left: 15px !important;    margin-right: 15px !important;    width: __SCREEN_CONTENT_SIZE_WIDTH__ !important;}.clutchpoints-widget {    /*margin: 10px 15px 10px 15px !important;*/    /*margin-top: 1px !important;*/    padding-top: 10px;    /*margin-left: 15px !important;*/    /*margin-right: 15px !important;*/    /*width: __SCREEN_CONTENT_SIZE_WIDTH__ !important;*/}        </style>        <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8" />    </head>    <body>        <article id="mvp-content-main"><header><figure><img src="https://wp.clutchpoints.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Austin-Rivers-absolutely-destroys-Dubs-over-Klay-Thompson-treatment.jpeg"></figure><h1>Austin Rivers absolutely destroys Warriors over Klay Thompson treatment</h1><time class="op-published" datetime="2024-07-03T15:30:05-07:00">July 3rd, 3:30pm</time><time class="op-modified" datetime="2024-07-03T15:30:05-07:00">July 3rd, 3:30pm</time><address><a>Zachary Weinberger</a>Zachary Weinberger joined ClutchPoints in October 2023 as a Miami Heat reporter as well as an Associate Editor. He graduated from Florida Atlantic University in 2022 after covering the school's athletic programs since his freshman year at the FAU University Press, where he was a Sports Editor and Editor-in-Chief. He then covered FAU Sports for The Palm Beach Post.</address><h3 class="op-kicker">NBA</h3><figure class="op-ad"></figure></header><p>Former NBA player and current basketball analyst Austin Rivers spoke on his podcast about <a href="https://clutchpoints.com/warriors-news-draymond-green-almost-signed-rival-2023">how the Golden State Warriors treated Klay Thompson</a> and what led to him signing with the Dallas Mavericks in the offseason. He would talk about the topic of Thompson on his own <a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-warriors-made-a-mistake-and-how-paul/id1711438444?i=1000660959463" rel="noopener">podcast called “Off Guard”</a> produced by Spotify and The Ringer.</p><p>Rivers would criticize <a href="https://clutchpoints.com/warriors-news-deanthony-melton-reacts-to-11-year-old-stephen-curry-tweet-going-viral">the Warriors in how they</a> handled Thompson last season, saying that they should have kept the “nucleus” of what brought the franchise success in the first place which also includes Stephen Curry and Draymond Green. He would double down and say that if Golden State is going “all in” on the two players mentioned before, then you also <a href="https://clutchpoints.com/mavericks-news-dallas-klay-thompson-contract-free-agency">have to do it with Thompson.</a></p><p>“It ain’t right, and if you gotta pay someone then pay him. Especially what he’s done for your franchise,” Rivers said. “A 3 year deal, that’s cool, you’ve got 3 years left on Draymond’s thing. Steph’s got about 3 more years, you keep the nuclease around. You got Kuminga, you got some other guys, maybe you go shop them or not I don’t know. You go all in on this because if you’re going all in on Steph, you go all in with Klay, if you go all in with Draymond, you go all in with Klay.”</p><h2><b>Rivers believes the Warriors alienated Thompson</b></h2><figure><img src="https://wp.clutchpoints.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Klay-Thompson-in-what-ended-up-being-his-last-game-for-the-Warriors-after-they-lost-to-the-Kings-in-the-play-in-tournament.jpg"><figcaption>Cary Edmondson-USA TODAY Sports</figcaption></figure><p>The critiques from Rivers also goes far beyond the <a href="https://clutchpoints.com/warriors-news-golden-state-klay-thompson-riviera-steph-curry-golf-joe-lacob">offseason and Thompson</a> as he spoke about how he was treated in terms of being benched throughout the season when he went on multiple dry spells. Rivers would even go as far as to say that the Warriors were alienating him like when they gave more minutes to rookie Brandin Podziemski.</p><p>“You don’t alienate Klay, you don’t take Klay’s minutes and put (Brandin) Podziemski in,” Rivers said. “But they started this earlier in the season, and that’s when Klay was like alright I’m f—-ing out, this is ridiculous. I’ve been holding it down for this whole organization, look what I’ve done. Yes Steph’s at the top but I’m right under him, I’ve been the Robin to his Batman for a lot of years.”</p><p>“You’re taking my minutes because I’m going through a shooting slump this year for Podziemski? Again this isn’t a Podziemski hate thing, he’s a good player, he ain’t Klay Thompson no disrespect,” Rivers continued. “It was ridiculous, especially when the Hall of Famer is putting up 18 a game. It would be one thing if he’s averaging 9 points per game shooting 30% from the field. My man’s averaging 18 a game, shooting right under 40% from 3.”</p><h2><b>Rivers says Warriors “got worse” with Thompson departure</b></h2><p>Last season, <a href="https://clutchpoints.com/warriors-jonathan-kuminga-focused-trade-proposal-lands-jazz-star-lauri-markkanen">Thompson averaged</a> 17.9 points, 3.3 rebounds, and 2.3 assists per game while shooting 43.2 percent from the field and 38.7 percent from the three-point line. Rivers would go on to say that the Warriors “got worse” while the Mavericks, who just made the NBA Finals, now got better with signing Thompson to a three-year, $50 million deal.</p><p>“Now you’ve got him on the Mavs,” Rivers said. “Mavs got better the Warriors got worse, so now we talk about what do they do with Steph, I don’t know, they got worse. And Steph is still in his prime, he’s at the end of it, but he’s still really good, it’s a shame.”</p><p><a href="https://clutchpoints.com/nba-rumors-klay-thompson-final-contract-offer-to-warriors-leaks">Time will tell how the Warriors</a> and Mavericks will play with their subtraction and addition respectively, but some may call it the “end of an era” for the former as the aforementioned three players won four championships and made six NBA Finals. Last season, Golden State had a 46-36 record which put them tenth in the Western Conference as they lost to the Sacramento Kings in the play-in tournament.</p><figure class="op-tracker"></figure></article>    </body></html>

Austin Rivers absolutely destroys Warriors over Klay Thompson treatment

<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"><html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en">    <head>        <script>   (function(i, s, o, g, r, a, m) {     i["GoogleAnalyticsObject"] = r;     i[r] = i[r] || function() {       (i[r].q = i[r].q || []).push(arguments)     }, i[r].l = 1 * new Date();     a = s.createElement(o),       m = s.getElementsByTagName(o)[0];     a.async = 1;     a.src = g;     m.parentNode.insertBefore(a, m)   })(window, document, "script", "https://www.google-analytics.com/analytics.js", "ga");   ga('create', 'UA-66147751-16', {     'storage': 'none',     'clientId': localStorage.getItem('ga:clientId')   });   ga(function(tracker) {     localStorage.setItem('ga:clientId', tracker.get('clientId'));   });   ga('set', 'checkProtocolTask', null);      ga('set', 'page', '/celtics-news-austin-rivers-destroys-grant-williams-celebrating-in-locker-room');   ga('set', 'title', 'Austin Rivers destroys Grant Williams for celebrating in Celtics’ locker room');   ga('send', 'pageview');</script>        <style type="text/css" media="all">            body {    background: transparent;    margin: 0px;}h1, h2, h3 {    color: #DDDDDD;    font-family: "SFUIText-Semibold";    margin: 30px 15px 15px 15px;    font-size: 21px;    line-height: 125%;    letter-spacing: -0.41px;}header {    margin: 0px;    height: 0px;    display: none;}p {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 15px 15px 15px 15px;    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;}p > img {    margin-left: -15px;    width: calc(100% + 30px);}a {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.8);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;    text-decoration: underline;}ul {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 3px 10px 3px 10px;    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;}ol {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;}img {    margin: 0px;    width: 100%;    height: auto;}blockquote {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.8);    font-family: "SFUIText-Medium";    margin: 30px 15px 30px 15px;    font-size: 19px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.41px;}blockquote p {    margin: 0px;}.op-tracker, .op-ad {    display: none;    height: 0px;}article > figure {    margin: 0px;}figcaption {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 10px 15px 30px 15px;    font-size: 13px;}iframe {    width: __SCREEN_SIZE_WIDTH__;    margin: 0px;    border: 0;}.vine-embed {    height: __SCREEN_SIZE_WIDTH__;}.twitter-tweet, .instagram-media {    margin-left: 15px !important;    margin-right: 15px !important;    width: __SCREEN_CONTENT_SIZE_WIDTH__ !important;}.clutchpoints-widget {    /*margin: 10px 15px 10px 15px !important;*/    /*margin-top: 1px !important;*/    padding-top: 10px;    /*margin-left: 15px !important;*/    /*margin-right: 15px !important;*/    /*width: __SCREEN_CONTENT_SIZE_WIDTH__ !important;*/}        </style>        <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8" />    </head>    <body>        <article id="mvp-content-main"><header><figure><img src="https://wp.clutchpoints.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/Austin-Rivers-destroys-Grant-Williams-for-celebrating-in-locker-room.jpg"></figure><h1>Austin Rivers destroys Grant Williams for celebrating in Celtics’ locker room</h1><time class="op-published" datetime="2024-06-19T11:08:09-07:00">June 19th, 11:08am</time><time class="op-modified" datetime="2024-06-19T15:33:09-07:00">June 19th, 3:33pm</time><address><a>Jackson Stone</a>Jackson Stone is a Mercer University senior from Atlanta on track to graduate with a BA in communications. A lifelong sports lover, Jackson is a die-hard fan of all Atlanta teams. He joined ClutchPoints in 2023.</address><h3 class="op-kicker">NBA</h3><figure class="op-ad"></figure></header><p>On Monday evening, Jayson Tatum and the Boston Celtics finally broke through and won their first championship of the modern era with a demolition of Luka Doncic and the Dallas Mavericks in Game 5 of the NBA Finals from Boston.</p><p>While <a href="https://clutchpoints.com/duke-basketball-news-blue-devils-jaylen-tatum-shoutout-celtics-nba-finals-win">Tatum put up</a> the best game of his Finals career on Monday, registering 31 points and 11 assists, it wasn’t quite enough to snatch the Finals MVP trophy <a href="https://clutchpoints.com/celtics-news-jayson-tatum-gets-painfully-honest-past-jaylen-brown-trade-rumors">from Celtics teammate</a> Jaylen Brown, who was more consistent and efficient throughout the series.</p><p><a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/seth-curry-on-finals-mvp-summer-of-the-celtics/id1711438444?i=1000659446039" rel="noopener">One bizarre moment</a> occurred after the conclusion of the game and the Celtics were spraying champagne in the locker room, at which point former Celtics forward Grant Williams, who ironically played for both the Celtics last year and the Mavericks for part of this year, was in the locker room partying it up with some of his old teammates in a very awkward scene.</p><p>One person who wasn’t a fan of this decision was former NBA guard Austin Rivers, who recently took to his own Off Guard with Austin Rivers podcast, ironically featuring guest and current Williams teammate Seth Curry of the Charlotte Hornets, to discuss the incident.</p><p>“Grant Williams got traded from that place, and you got traded by the other team that was in the other locker room, you shouldn’t be there, no offense, right,” said Rivers, via Off Guard with Austin Rivers. “You were traded in a fashion that was like, bro they got much better when you left, and Dallas got much better when you left.</p><p>“Not to say anything against Grant, but it’s like, there’s no way you should be in that locker room.”</p><p>Rivers also spoke on his own time playing for and then leaving a franchise that would go onto win an NBA Championship without him.</p><p>“I’ve been through it. I left Denver the next year they won, s—t, I thought it was going to happen again this year with Minnesota. I didn’t go to the finals to watch Denver win and go party with them in the locker room. Are you out of your f—-ing mind?” wondered Rivers.</p><p>“I was happy for them. I sent them all texts; I was happy for Coach Malone; I was happy for Mike, Aaron; I texted them. I’m not going to go party with you. You didn’t re-sign me. I did not win. Grant being in that locker room is strange as f—k, and I expected it 100%.”</p><h2><b>An awkward Celtics scene</b></h2><figure><img src="https://wp.clutchpoints.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/38f99898-2e64-11ef-86a6-8ac211a1ea0a.avif"><figcaption>Elsa/Pool Photo-USA TODAY</figcaption></figure><p>As previously mentioned, Williams played for the Celtics and the Mavericks over the last couple of seasons and wasn’t able to stick around long term with either organization. Williams did have the game of his life in the 2022 Eastern Conference semifinals Game 7 versus the Milwaukee Bucks to keep the Celtics’ season alive.</p><p>But overall, he became more known for his antics–including provoking Jimmy Butler into a mammoth performance, telling Donovan Mitchell he would make two free throws in the clutch before proceeding to miss both, etc.–that left a bad taste in fans’ mouths.</p><figure class="op-tracker"></figure></article>    </body></html>

Austin Rivers destroys Grant Williams for celebrating in Celtics’ locker room

<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"><html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en">    <head>        <script>   (function(i, s, o, g, r, a, m) {     i["GoogleAnalyticsObject"] = r;     i[r] = i[r] || function() {       (i[r].q = i[r].q || []).push(arguments)     }, i[r].l = 1 * new Date();     a = s.createElement(o),       m = s.getElementsByTagName(o)[0];     a.async = 1;     a.src = g;     m.parentNode.insertBefore(a, m)   })(window, document, "script", "https://www.google-analytics.com/analytics.js", "ga");   ga('create', 'UA-66147751-16', {     'storage': 'none',     'clientId': localStorage.getItem('ga:clientId')   });   ga(function(tracker) {     localStorage.setItem('ga:clientId', tracker.get('clientId'));   });   ga('set', 'checkProtocolTask', null);      ga('set', 'page', '/lakers-news-why-bronny-james-reminds-nba-scout-austin-rivers');   ga('set', 'title', 'Why Bronny James reminds NBA scout of Austin Rivers');   ga('send', 'pageview');</script>        <style type="text/css" media="all">            body {    background: transparent;    margin: 0px;}h1, h2, h3 {    color: #DDDDDD;    font-family: "SFUIText-Semibold";    margin: 30px 15px 15px 15px;    font-size: 21px;    line-height: 125%;    letter-spacing: -0.41px;}header {    margin: 0px;    height: 0px;    display: none;}p {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 15px 15px 15px 15px;    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;}p > img {    margin-left: -15px;    width: calc(100% + 30px);}a {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.8);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;    text-decoration: underline;}ul {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 3px 10px 3px 10px;    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;}ol {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;}img {    margin: 0px;    width: 100%;    height: auto;}blockquote {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.8);    font-family: "SFUIText-Medium";    margin: 30px 15px 30px 15px;    font-size: 19px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.41px;}blockquote p {    margin: 0px;}.op-tracker, .op-ad {    display: none;    height: 0px;}article > figure {    margin: 0px;}figcaption {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 10px 15px 30px 15px;    font-size: 13px;}iframe {    width: __SCREEN_SIZE_WIDTH__;    margin: 0px;    border: 0;}.vine-embed {    height: __SCREEN_SIZE_WIDTH__;}.twitter-tweet, .instagram-media {    margin-left: 15px !important;    margin-right: 15px !important;    width: __SCREEN_CONTENT_SIZE_WIDTH__ !important;}.clutchpoints-widget {    /*margin: 10px 15px 10px 15px !important;*/    /*margin-top: 1px !important;*/    padding-top: 10px;    /*margin-left: 15px !important;*/    /*margin-right: 15px !important;*/    /*width: __SCREEN_CONTENT_SIZE_WIDTH__ !important;*/}        </style>        <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8" />    </head>    <body>        <article id="mvp-content-main"><header><figure><img src="https://wp.clutchpoints.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/Why-Bronny-James-reminds-NBA-scout-of-Austin-Rivers.jpg"></figure><h1>Why Bronny James reminds NBA scout of Austin Rivers</h1><time class="op-published" datetime="2024-06-15T16:48:59-07:00">June 15th, 4:48pm</time><time class="op-modified" datetime="2024-06-15T16:49:56-07:00">June 15th, 4:49pm</time><address><a>Alex House</a>Alex House is a sports journalist who covers the NFL, NBA, and MLB for ClutchPoints. He grew up in a New York sports-heavy region in Connecticut and earned his journalism degree at the University of Rhode Island. His in-depth knowledge of two of the most passionate and raucous fan bases in the country gives him a truly unique writing voice.</address><h3 class="op-kicker">NBA</h3><figure class="op-ad"></figure></header><p>The next two weeks could elicit an array of emotions from Los Angeles Lakers fans, but the one guarantee is that this stretch will be hectic. General manager Rob Pelinka must continue to conduct <a href="https://hoopshype.com/lists/aggregate-2024-nba-mock-draft-intel-on-knicks-suns-spurs-76ers-raptors-nuggets-wizards-more/">a head coaching search</a>, prepare for the June 26-27 NBA Draft and then dive into the free agency pool a few days later.</p><p>It is not an understatement to say this is a crucial offseason for the franchise, one that could map out the future beyond just the LeBron James era.</p><p>Make no mistake, though, the four-time champion is still at the nucleus of the Lakers’ plans. The agenda is a bit muddied, but the preeminent objective is obvious– re-sign James after he inevitably opts out of his current contract with the team.</p><p>One way to ensure that the NBA’s all-time scoring leader is in good spirits when he presumably hits the open market at the end of the month is to give him the opportunity to play the game he loves with his son, Bronny James. Although the “nepotism” narrative has been consumed by many fans throughout the year, the former USC guard reportedly <a href="https://clutchpoints.com/lakers-news-bronny-james-sighting-la-facility-wild-reactions">carries more appeal</a> to the organization than just the affect his presence can have on his father’s free agency decision.</p><p>In fact, one individual in the industry <a href="https://hoopshype.com/lists/aggregate-2024-nba-mock-draft-intel-on-knicks-suns-spurs-76ers-raptors-nuggets-wizards-more/" rel="noopener">is comparing</a> him to a former top-10 draft pick and NBA veteran. Of course, the James name could still help boost his stock a bit.</p><h2><b>Can Bronny James stick in NBA as a role player?</b></h2><p>“I think Bronny will go in the draft because of who he is, and some team will really think LeBron will come if they draft him,” an NBA scout told HoopsHype’s Michael Scotto.</p><p>“If the Lakers keep their pick, they won’t pass on him. He’s a decent player. He’s better than some guys who may get picked ahead of him. He’s solid, not spectacular. He knows how to play. He can handle the ball well enough. If you leave him alone, he’ll drill a three. He reminds me of Austin Rivers as a player, and he’s stayed in the league for over a decade.”</p><p>While being lauded when he came out of Duke in 2012, Rivers underwhelmed at the professional level. The 31-year-old, who has spent the last year doing some analyst work, did carve out a role for himself in the league, though. He has averaged 8.5 points while shooting just under 35 percent from 3-point land in 707 games.</p><p>Given the amount of conversations that revolve around Bronny James, one could understand why him being likened to the NBA version of Rivers would be a bit disappointing. Hopefully, however, fans are fully aware by now that there is a risk of the hype outweighing the finished product. Similar to James, <a href="https://clutchpoints.com/nba-news-austin-rivers-following-in-jj-redick-doc-rivers-footsteps-despite-nepotism-blowback">Rivers has dealt with nepotism chatter</a> throughout his adulthood.</p><h2><b>Bronny James is a wild card, but less of one than he was two months ago</b></h2><figure><img src="https://wp.clutchpoints.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/Bronny-James-secures-a-rebound-for-USC.jpg"><figcaption>Stephen R. Sylvanie-USA TODAY Sports</figcaption></figure><p>After undergoing cardiac arrest last summer, James struggled in his lone season with the Trojans. He posted a concerning 36.6 field goal percentage and did not even average 20 minutes a night on a team that fell near the bottom of the Pac-12 standings. A logjam of guards and his health crisis could have feasibly impacted his production in a negative manner, however.</p><p>James’ performance at the NBA Draft Combine reinforced that belief for many pundits and fans. He displayed strong instincts, vision, movement and defensive skills during the showcase and apparently <a href="https://clutchpoints.com/bronny-james-projected-nba-draft-pick-spot-after-combine">increased his draft profile</a>. There is a widely held belief that the Lakers would select him regardless, but this young athlete has reportedly accomplished enough on his own merit to <a href="https://clutchpoints.com/nba-news-rick-carlisle-makes-bold-bronny-james-draft-prediction">hear his name called</a> at the Barclays Center.</p><p>It is unclear how LA specifically touches up its roster, but an upgrade is needed to keep pace with a brutal Western Conference. The team has been linked to multiple stars over the past few months, so Pelinka might have a grand vision in mind. But those can be tough to pull off, particularly in this trade market. A solid bench piece is much more attainable and also something the Lakers could use.</p><p>Can Bronny James, under the tutelage of LeBron James, fulfill that role for the Purple and Gold? Time will tell, but there is an expectation that he could log a decent workload in the pros. And that is a promising outlook for a player who has faced the kind of tribulations, both on and off the court, that he has in the last year.</p><p>The Lakers own the No. 17 and No. 55 picks in the 2024 NBA Draft.</p><figure class="op-tracker"></figure></article>    </body></html>

Why Bronny James reminds NBA scout of Austin Rivers

<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"><html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en">    <head>        <script>   (function(i, s, o, g, r, a, m) {     i["GoogleAnalyticsObject"] = r;     i[r] = i[r] || function() {       (i[r].q = i[r].q || []).push(arguments)     }, i[r].l = 1 * new Date();     a = s.createElement(o),       m = s.getElementsByTagName(o)[0];     a.async = 1;     a.src = g;     m.parentNode.insertBefore(a, m)   })(window, document, "script", "https://www.google-analytics.com/analytics.js", "ga");   ga('create', 'UA-66147751-16', {     'storage': 'none',     'clientId': localStorage.getItem('ga:clientId')   });   ga(function(tracker) {     localStorage.setItem('ga:clientId', tracker.get('clientId'));   });   ga('set', 'checkProtocolTask', null);      ga('set', 'page', '/nba-news-austin-rivers-following-in-jj-redick-doc-rivers-footsteps-despite-nepotism-blowback');   ga('set', 'title', 'Austin Rivers following in JJ Redick, Doc Rivers’ footsteps despite nepotism blowback');   ga('send', 'pageview');</script>        <style type="text/css" media="all">            body {    background: transparent;    margin: 0px;}h1, h2, h3 {    color: #DDDDDD;    font-family: "SFUIText-Semibold";    margin: 30px 15px 15px 15px;    font-size: 21px;    line-height: 125%;    letter-spacing: -0.41px;}header {    margin: 0px;    height: 0px;    display: none;}p {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 15px 15px 15px 15px;    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;}p > img {    margin-left: -15px;    width: calc(100% + 30px);}a {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.8);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;    text-decoration: underline;}ul {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 3px 10px 3px 10px;    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;}ol {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;}img {    margin: 0px;    width: 100%;    height: auto;}blockquote {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.8);    font-family: "SFUIText-Medium";    margin: 30px 15px 30px 15px;    font-size: 19px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.41px;}blockquote p {    margin: 0px;}.op-tracker, .op-ad {    display: none;    height: 0px;}article > figure {    margin: 0px;}figcaption {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 10px 15px 30px 15px;    font-size: 13px;}iframe {    width: __SCREEN_SIZE_WIDTH__;    margin: 0px;    border: 0;}.vine-embed {    height: __SCREEN_SIZE_WIDTH__;}.twitter-tweet, .instagram-media {    margin-left: 15px !important;    margin-right: 15px !important;    width: __SCREEN_CONTENT_SIZE_WIDTH__ !important;}.clutchpoints-widget {    /*margin: 10px 15px 10px 15px !important;*/    /*margin-top: 1px !important;*/    padding-top: 10px;    /*margin-left: 15px !important;*/    /*margin-right: 15px !important;*/    /*width: __SCREEN_CONTENT_SIZE_WIDTH__ !important;*/}        </style>        <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8" />    </head>    <body>        <article id="mvp-content-main"><header><figure><img src="https://wp.clutchpoints.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Austin-Rivers-following-in-JJ-Redick-Doc-Rivers-footsteps-despite-nepotism-blowback.jpeg"></figure><h1>Austin Rivers following in JJ Redick, Doc Rivers’ footsteps despite nepotism blowback</h1><time class="op-published" datetime="2024-05-31T14:52:30-07:00">May 31st, 2:52pm</time><time class="op-modified" datetime="2024-05-31T14:52:30-07:00">May 31st, 2:52pm</time><address><a>Zachary Weinberger</a>Zachary Weinberger joined ClutchPoints in October 2023 as a Miami Heat reporter as well as an Associate Editor. He graduated from Florida Atlantic University in 2022 after covering the school's athletic programs since his freshman year at the FAU University Press, where he was a Sports Editor and Editor-in-Chief. He then covered FAU Sports for The Palm Beach Post.</address><h3 class="op-kicker">NBA</h3><figure class="op-ad"></figure></header><p><a href="https://clutchpoints.com/nba-news-austin-rivers-doubles-down-bold-nba-nfl-player-take">Former NBA player and current sports analyst Austin Rivers was</a> on ESPN’s “The Pat McAfee show” where he spoke about a multitude of topics in the world of basketball. One of the conversations they all had was Rivers talking about his future which could possibly involve him in a coaching position.</p><p>As they were talking about the impending NBA Finals between the Boston Celtics and the Minnesota Timberwolves, McAfee threw in a comment after about how he is much smarter from hearing Rivers give his opinion on basketball. After a few moments, it would lead to McAfee asking Rivers about potentially being in a coaching or executive role in the NBA where the former player revealed <a href="https://x.com/PatMcAfeeShow/status/1796580816409231640" rel="noopener">“that is a long term goal”</a> for him, <a href="https://clutchpoints.com/nba-rumors-why-lakers-hiring-anyone-other-than-jj-redick-would-be-surprise">comparing himself to JJ Redick</a>.</p><p>“That is a long term goal of mine,” Rivers said. “You see what JJ’s doing, I have a similar path in mind of what I’m trying to do in terms of using the media, and loving being a part of the media and transferring it to a coaching job or a front office job like my father. I’m 31 so I want to put in some time, I’ve got to put in some work, another 4 or 5 years of really like building and networking and obviously getting on here, but a goal of mine is I want to be back in the show, I want to compete man.”</p><figure class="op-interactive"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p dir="ltr" lang="en">“I love being part of the media and I gotta keep putting in the work..</p><p>I wanna be back in the show and I wanna compete..</p><p>I wanna be a Head Coach and run a team at some point” ~ <a href="https://twitter.com/AustinRivers25?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@AustinRivers25</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/PMSLive?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#PMSLive</a> <a href="https://t.co/BstR1D44GE">pic.twitter.com/BstR1D44GE</a></p><p>— Pat McAfee (@PatMcAfeeShow) <a href="https://twitter.com/PatMcAfeeShow/status/1796580816409231640?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 31, 2024</a></p></blockquote><p><script async="" src="https://instagram.com/embed.js"></script></p></figure><h2><b>How Austin Rivers feels about the talk of nepotism</b></h2><figure><img src="https://wp.clutchpoints.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Austin-Rivers-warming-up-before-a-Timberwolves-game-in-March-2023.jpg"><figcaption>Nick Wosika-USA TODAY Sports</figcaption></figure><p>Some may not be shocked to hear his aspirations as his father, Doc Rivers, has been an NBA head coach since 1999 where he has been at the helm of such teams as the Orlando Magic, Boston Celtics, Los Angeles Clippers, Philadelphia 76ers, and now with the Milwaukee Bucks. However, <a href="https://clutchpoints.com/packers-news-former-aaron-rodgers-weapon-ruthlessly-rips-austin-rivers-nfl-vs-nba-take">Austin Rivers said to McAfee that he</a> would not want the job purely out of nepotism since his father was an accomplished head coach.</p><p>“Well that would be nepotism, I don’t want that,” Rivers said. “I’ve only been around the NBA since I was 6, you know I might know a little bit of something about knowing how to run a team possibly, maybe I don’t know.”</p><p><a href="https://clutchpoints.com/nfl-news-jj-watt-hits-back-austin-rivers-wild-take-go-ahead-and-try-it">Rivers has been an NBA player since 2012 where</a> he has been part of seven teams most recently with the Minnesota Timberwolves in 2023. He mentioned how besides his father, he wants to follow in the footsteps of <a href="https://clutchpoints.com/nba-rumors-jj-redick-to-lakers-buzz-heats-up-with-coaching-staff-rumbles">Redick who has been a popular sports analyst</a> for ESPN, but is now in the running for head coaching positions.</p><p>It is heavily rumored that he will be the next head coach for the Los Angeles Lakers after they fired Darvin Ham, which makes some sense since Redick has a relationship with LeBron James, as the two have a podcast together. Even senior NBA insider for Bleacher Report Chris Haynes was on “The Dan Patrick Show” and expressed how he would be <a href="https://x.com/ClutchPoints/status/1795855195668152405" rel="noopener">“very surprised”</a> if the former player is not in the position for Los Angeles.</p><p>“I will be very surprised if their next head coach is anybody but JJ Redick,” Haynes said. “Everything that I’m hearing is JJ Redick. From what I know he’s doing some background, calling some assistant coaching candidates who might be able to join his staff.”</p><figure class="op-interactive"><blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p dir="ltr" lang="en">“I will be surprised if [the Lakers] next head coach is anybody but JJ Redick… He’s doing some background, calling some assistant coaching candidates.”</p><p>Chris Haynes on the Lakers’ head coaching search 👀</p><p>(via <a href="https://twitter.com/dpshow?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@dpshow</a>) <a href="https://t.co/vtWV2CGTrT">pic.twitter.com/vtWV2CGTrT</a></p><p>— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPoints) <a href="https://twitter.com/ClutchPoints/status/1795855195668152405?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">May 29, 2024</a></p></blockquote><p><script async="" src="https://instagram.com/embed.js"></script></p></figure><h2><b>Rivers talks about the NBA Finals</b></h2><p>Other than what Austin Rivers wants to do in the foreseeable future, he also spoke about the NBA Finals where he previewed the Celtics taking on the Mavericks. He detailed the several storylines in the championship series as there will be reunions involving Kristaps Porzingis and Kyrie Irving facing their former teams. Also, the answer of the “best duo in the league.”</p><p>“Porzingis is gonna be back in Dallas, Kyrie is gonna be back in Boston after a lot was there. Stepping on the court, saging the floor, flicking off fans,” Rivers said. “You got who is the best duo in the league. is it Brown and Tatum, or is it Luka and Kyrie.”</p><p>In any sense, <a href="https://clutchpoints.com/jayson-tatum-celtics-get-harsh-clutch-reality-check-from-austin-rivers">Rivers will continue his work</a> in the sports media world, but there is no doubt that he has other aspirations.</p><figure class="op-tracker"></figure></article>    </body></html>

Austin Rivers following in JJ Redick, Doc Rivers’ footsteps despite nepotism blowback

<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"><html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en">    <head>        <script>   (function(i, s, o, g, r, a, m) {     i["GoogleAnalyticsObject"] = r;     i[r] = i[r] || function() {       (i[r].q = i[r].q || []).push(arguments)     }, i[r].l = 1 * new Date();     a = s.createElement(o),       m = s.getElementsByTagName(o)[0];     a.async = 1;     a.src = g;     m.parentNode.insertBefore(a, m)   })(window, document, "script", "https://www.google-analytics.com/analytics.js", "ga");   ga('create', 'UA-66147751-16', {     'storage': 'none',     'clientId': localStorage.getItem('ga:clientId')   });   ga(function(tracker) {     localStorage.setItem('ga:clientId', tracker.get('clientId'));   });   ga('set', 'checkProtocolTask', null);      ga('set', 'page', '/nba-news-austin-rivers-doubles-down-bold-nba-nfl-player-take');   ga('set', 'title', 'Austin Rivers doubles down on bold NBA, NFL player take');   ga('send', 'pageview');</script>        <style type="text/css" media="all">            body {    background: transparent;    margin: 0px;}h1, h2, h3 {    color: #DDDDDD;    font-family: "SFUIText-Semibold";    margin: 30px 15px 15px 15px;    font-size: 21px;    line-height: 125%;    letter-spacing: -0.41px;}header {    margin: 0px;    height: 0px;    display: none;}p {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 15px 15px 15px 15px;    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;}p > img {    margin-left: -15px;    width: calc(100% + 30px);}a {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.8);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;    text-decoration: underline;}ul {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 3px 10px 3px 10px;    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;}ol {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    font-size: 17px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.23px;}img {    margin: 0px;    width: 100%;    height: auto;}blockquote {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.8);    font-family: "SFUIText-Medium";    margin: 30px 15px 30px 15px;    font-size: 19px;    line-height: 135%;    letter-spacing: -0.41px;}blockquote p {    margin: 0px;}.op-tracker, .op-ad {    display: none;    height: 0px;}article > figure {    margin: 0px;}figcaption {    color: rgba(255, 255, 255, 0.7);    font-family: "SFUIText-Regular";    margin: 10px 15px 30px 15px;    font-size: 13px;}iframe {    width: __SCREEN_SIZE_WIDTH__;    margin: 0px;    border: 0;}.vine-embed {    height: __SCREEN_SIZE_WIDTH__;}.twitter-tweet, .instagram-media {    margin-left: 15px !important;    margin-right: 15px !important;    width: __SCREEN_CONTENT_SIZE_WIDTH__ !important;}.clutchpoints-widget {    /*margin: 10px 15px 10px 15px !important;*/    /*margin-top: 1px !important;*/    padding-top: 10px;    /*margin-left: 15px !important;*/    /*margin-right: 15px !important;*/    /*width: __SCREEN_CONTENT_SIZE_WIDTH__ !important;*/}        </style>        <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8" />    </head>    <body>        <article id="mvp-content-main"><header><figure><img src="https://wp.clutchpoints.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/7388053851-1.jpg"></figure><h1>Austin Rivers doubles down on bold NBA, NFL player take</h1><time class="op-published" datetime="2024-05-10T13:53:09-07:00">May 10th, 1:53pm</time><time class="op-modified" datetime="2024-05-10T13:53:09-07:00">May 10th, 1:53pm</time><address><a>Scotty White</a>Scotty White is a graduate of the University of Michigan and has been in the sports journalism industry since 2020. He has covered athletics at the University of Michigan and the University of Southern California and is now serving as an Associate Editor and Chicago Bulls beat writer at ClutchPoints.</address><h3 class="op-kicker">NBA</h3><figure class="op-ad"></figure></header><p>A big debate has been going on in the sports world recently about NFL and NBA players being able to play the other sport. Austin Rivers originally said that he thinks you could take 30 players from the NBA and put them in the NFL. He has backtracked a little bit as he recently admitted that the number maybe isn’t as high as 30, <a href="https://clutchpoints.com/thunder-news-chet-holmgren-can-be-part-of-austin-rivers-nfl-team-insane-game-2-grab">but Rivers still stands</a> by his original claim.</p><p>Many NFL players have disagreed with the <a href="https://clutchpoints.com/nfl-news-jj-watt-hits-back-austin-rivers-wild-take-go-ahead-and-try-it">take that Austin Rivers</a> had, but he is doubling down… sort of. Maybe not 30, but Rivers is still confident that a good chunk of NBA guys could make it in the NFL.</p><p>“I still <a href="https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/top-reasons-nba-players-could-play-in-the-nfl-and/id1711438444?i=1000655192926" rel="noopener">stand by what I said</a>,” Rivers said during an episode of <i>Off Guard with Austin Rivers.</i> “Now is it 30? no, it could be 20, it could be 10, I don’t know, all I know is I could get you a handful of them.”</p><p>Rivers thinks that there are some similarities between the two, like being able to catch the basketball. He thinks that with the right amount of training, it can be done.</p><p>“You give these guys six, seven months, if I give Aaron Gordon seven months, instead of going to a gym everyday for hours, he’s out there working on footwork and running routes to just go catch a ball, and when I say go catch a ball, I don’t mean it’s that easy, because I understand those guys have special hands,” Rivers continued. “I’m just saying we also catch a ball for a living, it’s not a football granted, so I understand there’s a difference there, but most of us grew up playing football. As a boy it’s just like in your DNA to go play catch with your dad, catch the f**king ball man.”</p><h2><b>Having good hands is a big part of Rivers’ argument</b></h2><figure><img src="https://wp.clutchpoints.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Austin-Rivers.jpg"><figcaption>© Nick Wosika-USA TODAY Sports</figcaption></figure><p>It seems like Austin Rivers is thinking that these guys would be wide receivers or tight ends based on his argument. He talks about hand skills a lot, and he thinks that a lot of NBA guys have special hands like NFL players.</p><p>“I understand there’s levels of hands, again I get all these guys, I understand why people are offended but at the same time I still stand by what I said because there are guys in our league who have great hands,” Rivers added. “And they’re tall and athletic, way taller than NFL players bro. Megatron [Calvin Johnson] was unbelievable as a football player, yes because he had great hands, but because he was bigger than everybody else. That’s why they call him Megatron, they used to throw it up and he’d jump up and get it. Gronk, he’s a good football player obviously, I’m naming legends here right. These guys were big guys man, at their position. The best tight ends ever were players who came from college basketball man, point blank period.”</p><p>Rivers stands by what he says, and the debate will likely rage on. Either way, both of the sports are very difficult to play at the professional level.</p><figure class="op-tracker"></figure></article>    </body></html>

2022-23 SEASON STATS
PTS	REB	AST	BLK	STL
4.9	1.6	1.4	0.1	0.5

2022-23 SEASON STATS
PTS	REB	AST	BLK	STL
4.9	1.6	1.4	0.1	0.5

Austin Rivers

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Austin Rivers doubles down on bold NBA, NFL player take

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