Austin Rivers Seeks Playoff Contender, Regular Minutes

Veteran guard Austin Rivers officially became a free agent on Thursday after being released by the Suns earlier this week, and is now eligible to sign with any team except the Wizards.

While Rivers has heard from multiple teams interested in adding him, he plans to take his time choosing his new club, according to Keith Smith of Yahoo Sports, who tweets that Rivers would like to join a playoff contender willing to give him regular minutes.

The Grizzlies are one team that could fit that bill, and it briefly appeared that Rivers had lined up a deal with Memphis on Tuesday. However, that report was shot down, with Chris Herrington of The Daily Memphian indicating that the Grizzlies discussed the idea of signing the 26-year-old, but opted not to move forward and finalize a deal.

After enjoying a career year in Los Angeles last season for the Clippers, with 15.1 PPG, 4.0 APG, and a .378 3PT% in 61 games (33.7 MPG), Rivers has struggled so far in 2018/19. In 29 games (23.6 MPG) with the Wizards, the former Duke Blue Devil posted 7.2 PPG and 2.0 APG with a .392/.311/.543 shooting line.

This season’s struggles may limit Rivers’ appeal to some extent, but based on Smith’s report, it sounds as if he has at least a few potential suitors. Shams Charania of The Athletic also said earlier this week that four or five teams had interest in Rivers, though he has since deleted that tweet.

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