Could the Philadelphia 76ers find gold from the Wizards’ garage sale?
Austin Rivers
After putting together the best season of his NBA career in 2017-2018, Austin Rivers was promptly traded to the Wizards for Marcin Gortat straight up.
While this was indeed an unusual move, as I can’t think of another occurrence where an NBA player played for his father, let alone was traded from his father’s team, the move appeared to be a solid move for both sides.
For the Clippers, Gortat looked like a solid replacement for departing big man DeAndre Jordan, especially after the team selected a pair of guards in the first round of the 2018 NBA Draft in Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Jerome Robinson.
And for the Wizards, Rivers looked like a decided upgrade over the motley crew of backup guards the team has trotted out onto the court over the last few seasons when they had to give either Wall or Beal a breather on the bench.
But so far, Rivers has been bad.
Averaging less than seven points in 22 minutes of action a night, Rivers is shooting less than 30 percent from 3-point range and just generally looks like an unhappy camper, a bad sign for a player who’s hardly known for his stellar locker room demeanor.
Simply put, Rivers is not a good fit in Philly, especially when you consider that his cap hit is over $12.5 million.
While a change of scenery may be helpful for Rivers’ return to prominence, especially under the wing of another Dukie like J.J. Redick, there’s almost no upside in trading an asset for Doc‘s son at this point.