JULY 21: Minnesota has officially announced the signing of Rivers, confirming the move in a press release.
JULY 14: The Timberwolves have made a move to bolster their bench as they continue to reshape their roster this summer. Minnesota is signing veteran combo guard Austin Rivers to a one-year contract, agents Dave Spahn and Aaron Mintz inform Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN.
The 6’4″ vet will be signing on for the veteran’s minimum, per Darren Wolfson of 5 Eyewitness News (Twitter link).
Rivers will be reuniting with a familiar face in the Timberwolves front office — Minnesota team president Tim Connelly, who signed a lucrative deal of his own with the club this summer after a successful extended tenure with the Nuggets. Rivers spent parts of the last two NBA seasons as a key reserve in Denver under Connelly.
After signing a 10-day deal with the Nuggets in April 2021, Rivers quickly proved himself worthy of a roster spot on a postseason contender, and was promptly brought back on a rest-of-season deal. He further solidified his role with the club by stepping up as a scorer during the 2021 playoffs. In Denver’s first-round matchup against the Trail Blazers, Rivers averaged 11.5 PPG (while shooting 48.3% from deep), 2.3 APG and 2.2 RPG.
The 29-year-old journeyman re-signed with Denver during the 2021 offseason. He would go on to play a crucial role, largely off the bench, for a guard-deprived Denver club. Across 67 contests, including 18 starts, Rivers averaged 6.0 PPG on .417/.342/.727 shooting splits during 22.1 MPG of game action. He also pulled down 1.7 RPG, dished out 1.3 APG, and snagged 0.8 SPG.
Rivers joins a revamped Minnesota team that offloaded much of its veteran depth to add three-time Defensive Player of the Year Rudy Gobert. He’ll serve as a helpful ball-handler off the bench behind projected backcourt starters D’Angelo Russell and Anthony Edwards. Another new free agent signee, Kyle Anderson, will likely start at small forward, while Gobert will join All-Star big man Karl-Anthony Towns to form a jumbo-sized frontcourt tandem.
They needed defense at the guard spot, and this is what they went with? I just realized Connelly is obviously there now, and he made this poor decision in Denver at the end of the 2021 season and then again last year, and now he wants to go for round 3
I figured they might be in on Eric Bledsoe, but obviously, he has some sort of affinity for a player I’m questioning how he is in the league over other similar/better players
Rivers is a very solid defender, probably better than Gordon. It’s on O where he struggles.
Gordon? I would call Rivers inconsistently adequate
Rivers is inconsistent on offense and tried hard on defense. The Nuggets usually had two players trying to guard all 5 opposing players and Rivers was usually one of them. It made him seem like he was out of position but I think it was more he was trying to help on other players’ responsibilities.
As a Denver Fan I wanted Rivers back in the worst way
Kris dunn
Damn shoulda been a warrior. Still got boogie out there
Why? DDV is better.
yuk! hell no, taco man
Doubt Anderson starts over McDaniels. Makes way more sense off the bench. Need a very low usage guy in the starting line up.
So 7 of 13 Wolves are guards.
Somebody should be going after Nowell, possibly the 7th guard. They signed Rivers & Forbes just to mentor? And Finch won’t sleep on the rookie Moore.
Yeah that’s weird. Forbes and Rivers seems redundant
Russell, McLauhlin, Edwards, Forbes, Nowell, and now Rivers
I could see both Edwards and Nowell seeing minutes at other positions on this roster though. Forbes is mainly there as a shooter they need at the 2/3 spots, although ya, you would prefer more of a 3 there. McLaughlin is more just depth as a scoring guard, who is a surprisingly useful defender, but is small. Does a good job of not turning the ball over too, and can playmake
Moore gets described as a guard like Bruce Brown is… that may not hold tho.
Moore is a 3/2, possibly can even play some minutes at the 4 guarding up. I consider him to be a playmaking wing. He reminds me of Josh Hart/a less athletic Iguodala/a little bit of Caleb Martin. His outside shot/willingness to shoot, and finishing in traffic (he finishes below the rim) are areas of improvement for him, but I really like him
Seventh team in ten seasons. That’s a rough career on your family. Then again, they’re rich for it. I’d just keep a close eye on my wife if I was him. She’s hot as hell if you didn’t know. Google it.
All this bouncing around while your wife is fine af at home. I’d hope she doesn’t have a personal trainer lol
Was kinda hoping his dad would sign him and take him to Philly. Could’ve been handy off the bench especially with Daryl Morreys inability to get a SG so far. Rivers would’ve been the insurance policy we need.
Can be the back up SG and if we trade for someone else say Eric Gordon then sweet Rivers is the combo guard which can cover at point or shooting guard
De’Anthony Melton cost Philly a first and Green to get. He will be the SG you wanted!
Don’t be surprised to see Minny playing in the conference finals next season.
Brand new retooled teams don’t usually go that far … Connelly got it all wrong with the Gobert trade
I’d be thrilled to see them win it all next year. I’m not a Minnesota fan per se, but I want to see teams rewarded that actually try to win. Honestly I hope teams like OKC and Houston trade places with Minnesota and are in the lottery forever. They don’t deserve a winning team.
But it probably won’t happen, but it sure would be nice if it did.