Austin Rivers Tried His Best To Defend His Dad By Taking His Own Swings At JJ Redick

Josh Lefkowitz. Getty Images.

With no basketball being played for another two days, if there's one thing that gets us through this dark period in the NBA schedule is the random drama. The more embarrassing the better. This time of year means we all get to make mountains out of mole hills over something extremely stupid. The good news is if there's one thing the NBA is great at, it's providing us meaningless yet hilarious drama.

Tuesday morning brought us this take by JJ Redick. Not really a hot take or something all that outrageous to suggest given the historical evidence that supports his claim. 

That clip is 100% pure catnip to NBA Twitter during a break in the schedule like this. Of course it's going to go pretty viral because what else is there to talk about right now? You can only discuss the problems with the All Star Weekend so many times, drama is what keeps us fresh. It's what makes the wait until the games are back Thursday night bearable. 

And because this is the NBA, and because this is media in 2024, it was only a matter of time before we got some sort of response. Enter Austin Rivers

What, you didn't think Austin was going to stick up for his Dad? It's not like Doc is going to say anything, so Austin took it upon himself which I can respect on some level. It's not even really about where he may or may not be right during that rant, family sticks up for family. Did things unfold exactly as Austin described? Not quite. It also doesn't help that this was his Dad earlier today

Where Austin sort of loses me is in that entire rant, he never even really addressed what JJ's point was. You could argue that all he did was just rattle off a list of excuses as to why Doc got fired in all his previous spots. That was a great touch. Just because other people held Doc accountable doesn't mean he held himself accountable, hence the excuse making. And, not to be that guy, but I could make the case that Redick's best seasons actually came in Philly, under Brett Brown. Year 1 as a Sixer might trump his Clippers years depending on what you value

So once you start to poke holes into what Austin was actually saying, you can see where things start to fall apart quickly.

I'd love to know if this was something that producers bring to the table to generate views and clicks and Austin had to come up with a take on the spot, or if he came to the set and was like "I'm ready to unload on that guy". If it's the latter, this is even funnier given what his rant ended up being. Good job good effort I guess.

Once you take a step back and realize what the hell we're even talking about here, you can see why we all just need the games to come back. I get that the players need the break, but this is tough. I need more basketball being played and less back and forth about Doc Rivers' accountability. There will be plenty of time for that as the season goes on. 

Thursday night can't come soon enough