1:01pm: Rivers has officially been waived, the Thunder have announced in a team press release.
12:22pm: After being dealt from the Knicks to the Thunder as part of the three-team trade that sent point guard George Hill to the Sixers, combo guard Austin Rivers has been waived by Oklahoma City, per Shams Charania of The Athletic (Twitter link). With the move, the Thunder will now have an available roster spot.
Charania, Eric Nehm and Seth Partnow of The Athletic write that the Bucks appear to be the frontrunners in the quest to add Rivers, should he clear waivers in free agency. Milwaukee is seeking to fortify its point guard depth after sending reserve point guard D.J. Augustin in a deal for veteran forward P.J. Tucker.
ESPN’s Zach Lowe first identified Milwaukee as a potential landing spot for Rivers last Monday, while Eric Nehm of The Athletic highlighted the possibility of Rivers being a target for the Bucks following the trade deadline.
Rivers joined the Knicks in the offseason on a three-year, partially guaranteed $10MM contract in a sign-and-trade. He appeared in 21 games for New York, averaging 7.3 PPG, 2.2 RPG, 2.0 APG and 0.6 SPG in just 21.0 MPG.
The 6’4″ veteran guard lost his rotation spot to Derrick Rose once the Knicks added the former MVP in a trade with the Pistons. Rivers has not suited up since February 13.
I’m sorry but Bucks have two roster spots open. They need to sign Rivers and Thomas combo or Teague and Rivers combo. Let the rookie forward keep getting playing time while others are out .
Okay I might be wrong maybe Knight would be better then Thomas with Rivers it kinda depends if Thomas has any explosiveness back and how hard he is willing to work on defense
rivers > teague + IT
i love isaiah but not sure he’s gonna be a rotation guy anymore
rivers is a real upgrade over some of the guys in the bucks rotation. getting him and tucker are big imo
Glad he’s no longer on the thunder
Austin Rivers is too old to play for the Thunder at age 28.
giannis
middleton
jrue
tucker
rivers
i like that closing 5 *a lot* more than the iteration w/ donte and lopez
with embiid and durant recovering from injury i like the bucks’ chances. think giannis is starting to get it – f the reg season, dominate for 8 weeks in may and june
Rivers over Donte DiVincenzo closing games? Seriously?
Rivers has played big playoff minutes in the past on teams that went far – i like him more than dd as a closer personally.
not ruling out that dd could prove me wrong but having rivers is at least some good insurance to have
Makes sense.
DD has made all-around improvement this year. Especially after his trade drama, I think you keep him in to close through the regular season and roll as far as you can until you have to tag him out in the playoffs, if that ever happens.
But he should be given the first round, at least.
Bucks is a good place for him. Clippers could still use him too. Just glad to see him go to a contender. Adds good depth to Bucks. Good for him
I thought he played very well when he was with the Rockets and was sad to see him go to NY. Hopefully he will sign with the Bucks and then he might end up facing his father in the playoffs. Maybe he can goad Doc into getting himself ejected again like he did last season when the Rockets played the Clippers. That was classic. Doc can throw away a 3-1 lead for the 4th time.
He did play well with Rockets. He’s a solid rotation guy. Seems he’s just tying to find a fit his whole career. Rivers and PJ two ex Rockets can really help the Bucks in playoffs.
Where are all the people who were saying this type of stuff (mid season buyout market) is ruining the league? Is it because Rivers isn’t signing with the Nets/Lakers or is it because he was just waived as opposed to being bought out first?
That’s all just sour grapes. Not every yr is like this.
Exactly. It’s not like Griffin, Drummond, or Aldridge are going to make any more difference for their new teams than Austin Rivers will with his.
Yup — I’d also argue Rivers and Dieng are better players at this point in their careers than Griffin or Aldridge.
Nets are really doing Griffin and LMA more of a favor than they’re doing the Nets
He doesn’t want the nets too?
Well, he wouldn’t have to move if he did, assuming he still had a place in NYC metro. If the Nets were picking him up before he cleared waivers, I think they’d have to use the MLE on him since his contract goes beyond this year, regardless of it being guaranteed or not. The Nets would need to cut Chiozza and move Alize Johnson to his 2-way slot. However, Rivers likely wouldn’t have a big role with the Nets and it would shrink even more if and when Dinwiddie returns.
I think the Nets may just ride it out with the team they have and pray everyone comes back healthy. Alize Johnson will probably get a second 10-day contract then likely be signed for the remainder of the season to a standard contract, unless someone else intriguing comes along. He’ll probably stay with the team regardless, as he’d take Chiozza’s slot.
Rivers moves the needle backwards for Milwaukee.
A midseason pickup be in games at the end?— the #5 Knick PG in charge, who thinks he’s a star, probably by necessity not reality.
My doubts are partly selfish given that he replaces Augustin who I wanted to go deep in a playoff run (once before in 12 years) but is now stuck with the Rockets. Augustin is always about string 1.5.
One must wonder if this Charania guy is just clownin’ people, right?
I mean what he wrote is gotta be the funniest thing, like ever!
“the Bucks appear to be the frontrunners in the quest to add Rivers!!!!!”
I mean seriously, quest to add Rivers, I am speechless ’bout that!
Anyone could get the impression that he is gonna add somethin’ to a team, right?