Austin Rivers Slams JJ Redick For Doc Rivers Criticism

Austin Rivers has joined Patrick Beverley in firing back at JJ Redick for his recent comments about Doc Rivers. Rivers defended his father by taking aim at Redick's playing history. "In terms of accountability, your best years in the NBA were when you played for him and the Clippers. It's just very ironic and kinda weird that you have this energy towards him," Rivers said on ESPN. He was referring to Redick's 2013-17 stint on the Clippers under Doc.

The current debacle stems from Redick saying Doc had a "lack of accountability" after taking over the Bucks midseason. After their firing their first-year head coach despite a 33-13 record, the Bucks have now gone 3-7 to start Doc's tenure. Despite this, Doc coached the Eastern Conference All-Star team due to the Bucks record. To his credit, Doc did call this out and said he would be giving his All-Star ring and bonus to the recently fired Adrian Griffin.

Austin Rivers Feuds With Stephen Jackson

However, JJ Redick is not the only player-turned-pundit that Rivers has feuded with recently. Earlier this month, Rivers responded to Stephen Jackon's heated reaction to his comments on ESPN about Bronny James. "All smiles…I didn’t even have to fight my own battles with ignorance, yall corrected it for me!! Thank you for not siding with delusion. Have a blessed day," Rivers wrote on X, formerly Twitter. Jackson had taken offense to Austin Rivers' rationale behind why LeBron and Bronny shouldn't play on the same team if Bronny makes the move to the NBA. "Difference is you trash, Bronny not. You can't compare to him scrub. And your daddy not LeBron. Shut up," Jackson wrote in the comments on an Instagram post reporting Rivers' original comments.

However, as mentioned, it was a bizarre reaction given that Rivers had been arguing that Bronny doesn't need the added obstacle of playing in his father's shadow. "I don't want to see Bronny play with [LeBron]... Him getting drafted & playing with his dad, I don't want that negativity to come his way. He doesn't deserve it... [He needs to] play somewhere where he can niche out his own identity," Rivers told NBA Today.

[via]