It has to be hard when your NBA coach is your father. Ask Austin Rivers. He may not suffer from ridicule as much, but when he first got traded to the Los Angeles Clippers, social media went ham on him. Not to mention what the players on the team may have thought.
In this Ride Along, Austin shares how he came up through the basketball ranks as a kid, ultimately making it to McDonald’s All-American status and a spot at Duke University. During the talk, he explains why he chose Coach Krzyzewski and what he learned in his time there, saying that the adjustment to the league for everyone is different.
When he got drafted The New Orleans Hornets (now the Pelicans), he suffered through injury and one of the darkest times in his career. Then he was traded to the Boston Celtics and he was excited to play there, until his Pop called and brought him to the Clippers.
Though he was aware of the stigma in the locker room of having a son play for his father coach, the team treats him as one of their own and his relationship with his father is as good as its ever been. They keep it business, but they haven’t spent this much time together, ever.