Doc Rivers made an appearance on the latest episode of KG: Certified and spoke to Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett about their children. Recollecting the tough decision of having to trade his own son, Doc mentioned just how emotional the call to Austin Rivers was. However, being the true professional that Austin is, he was mature enough to keep business and family separate.
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During his stint as the head coach for the Los Angeles Clippers, Doc Rivers became the first NBA coach to coach his son when Austin Rivers was acquired in 2015. Being the second point guard, behind Chris Paul, Austin had the best segment of his career with the Clippers – 11.1 points and 2.5 assists per game.
However, three and a half seasons later, Doc had to make the tough decision of trading his son in 2018. Revealing how the call to inform Austin of the trade went, the following is what the father said.
“I had to trade him, I had to trade my son. That call, I was emotional, because I’m like man, I gotta call Austin and trade him,” Doc said.
Further explaining the tough situation, Rivers told Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett that Austin didn’t have any harsh feelings towards his father. Instead, the two reminisced over the fact that they were the first father-son duo to also have a coach-player relationship in the NBA.
“He saved me, he was like ‘Dang, it’s time for me to go but I got a chance to play with my pops. Nobody else can say that’. He said, ‘later we’re going to love this’,” Doc recollected.
Sharing this exact clip of the episode on X (formerly “Twitter”), Garnett revealed to be in shock about the fact that Doc traded his son.
Man, real shyt @DocRivers had some tough choices to make throughout his career but trading his son gotta take the cake for me
But ayy at least @AustinRivers25 kept it real and held no grudges against his pops https://t.co/0I5hKmMWsD pic.twitter.com/HwbAkfI7Ve
— Kevin Garnett (@KevinGarnett5KG) December 30, 2023
Breaking the news about trading your players is not an easy task. This would’ve been an even more difficult job for Doc, considering that he had to do the same for his own son. That said, what the former NBA coach feared the most never happened. Rivers deserves some serious credit for handling things the way he did. Indeed, they can still look back at their time with joy now, knowing that they are the only father-son duo to ever do it in the NBA.
Doc Rivers had his children grow up as NBA kids
Being associated with the NBA for the past 50 years, Doc Rivers’ kids have virtually spent their entire lives around basketball. On the same podcast appearance, Doc revealed how all four of his children – Jeremiah, Spencer, Callie, and Austin – grew up as NBA kids.
Explaining the same, the ESPN analyst revealed that his children have been inside the NBA team’s locker rooms and have also accompanied their father on road trips. Among the others, Austin was a part of the 2008 championship parade when Doc won the title as head coach of the Boston Celtics.
“My kids are NBA kids. Like they all, they’ve been in it, they’ve been locker room, they’ve been on the road traveling. Austin got to play against y’all, which was the funniest thing of all time… Austin was a little kid in the parade,” Doc claimed.
Years after being traded away from the Clippers, Austin Rivers was asked to recollect his experiences playing under his father’s guidance. Answering the same, the guard revealed the difficulties of being in the locker room as the son of the coach.
“Everything else man was hell. Imagine being in a locker room where like say guys were talking about the coach. This happens on every team. Not everybody’s playing, not everybody’s getting along with the coach. … but the coach is my dad. There’s just a dynamic that’s weird there,” Rivers revealed.
The father-son duo have shared some notable moments during games. While a majority of them are wholesome, a certain interaction is extremely hilarious. Four years ago, during a Houston Rockets-Los Angeles Clippers game, Doc Rivers was fuming at the referee. Reacting to this, Austin riled up the official and convinced him to penalize his father with a technical foul.
It’s not every day that you see a father-son duo in the NBA. The Rivers family will certainly cherish the moments such as this one.
