Austin Rivers has finally found a home for himself, now playing for the Denver Nuggets. Rivers, who has been a perennial role player in the NBA for quite some time now, has been getting solid minutes for the Nuggets since joining them last season. But even though he has gotten the chance to play some great basketball right now, the Golden State Warriors couldn’t help but make fun of him.
During the Denver Nuggets game against the Golden State Warriors, the Warriors commentary team decided to make fun of him while Rivers took free throws. They made fun of Rivers for signing a massive contract extension while playing for the LA Clippers, suggesting that he only got the massive contract extension because his father, Doc Rivers, was the head coach.
Seems the Warriors announcers aren’t too fond of Austin Rivers pic.twitter.com/KL2yIIYfs0
— Tomer Azarly (@TomerAzarly) December 29, 2021
“He signed a big contract extension. Oh, wait, his dad was the coach.”
The commentator also said that Doc Rivers should have just given that money to Rivers because he was his son. It was a frankly unnecessary comment for the commentators to make, especially given how long Rivers has been in the NBA, and how many teams he has played for.
To attribute Rivers’ success to his father’s job is not fair, given how many teams he has played for, and has shown a regular ability to perform as a solid backup point guard. And Rivers has never experienced a situation where he didn’t get a spot on a team.
These comments could be residual animosity based on Rivers’ time on the Rockets, during the period where the Rockets were the Warriors’ biggest rivals in the Western Conference. But even then, there was no need for a comment like that from the Warriors announce team.
Rivers is yet to respond to them, and it is unknown whether he will actually say anything in response. Perhaps he will just ignore it and treat it as comments made by a rival of his former team.
