Former NBA Coach Doc Rivers’ son Austin Rivers (yes I went there to start this article) and Minnesota Timberwolves guard has made headlines for his comments on Damian Lillard requesting a trade from the Portland Trail Blazers.
By the article title, you should know by now where I'm going with this and I won't keep you waiting. To add to this, a friend of mine actually sent me the audio clip of Austin Rivers (a role player in the NBA for 11 years) speaking on a star player's career in Damian Lillard (who’s been a star player for 12 years in the NBA).
Let me say I laughed first and as I said to my friend and will say here, his comments don't have relevance to me and here's why. It's not that his comments are bad or wrong, it's that he has no stature in the NBA. He doesn't make Lillard’s money, he has never been a star in the league and has never carried a team (well since his college days at Duke and that's just me being nice).
If these comments came from a current star player or a former star player in the NBA, even a Hall of Famer, then I can take what they're saying and know they have stature in the sports space. If this was Shaq or Charles Barkley, Gary Payton or anyone like them, I'm good with it. But we continually give irrelevant role players like Austin Rivers camera time and ask him questions about things he knows nothing about, hasn't experienced or will never experience.
What happens with role players sometimes is they think they can speak on star players and what they do with their careers. Let's be mindful that Austin Rivers is on his 7th NBA team in 11 years and has never really amounted to much in the NBA.
Next, let's look at the dynamics of Damian Lillard’s career. He's been a solid player, has carried the Portland Trail Blazers and has only been to one Western Conference Finals. As a true basketball fan, that's sad and disappointing. We all as diehard NBA fans want to see Lillard having long playoff runs and watching “Dame Time” in big moments.
We can talk about the all-star snubs and the disrespect Dame got early in his career but at this point we all are aware of this. At age 33, he's on his last leg and knows he needs help to hoist a Larry O’Brien championship trophy in his hands.
Austin Rivers is the last person who should be talking about what “star” players do. He was traded by his own flesh and blood in Doc Rivers when he was coaching the Los Angeles Clippers. How embarrassing is that for your own father to trade you to another team for another player?
At that time, they both understood, “it's the business of the NBA.” So is Damian Lillard’s loyalty to a team for 12 years enough? Isn't his trade request to be moved to another team, “business in the NBA for the betterment of his career?”
What about LeBron’s first few years in Cleveland where he carried his team year after year and he felt it was time to move on? Should he have stayed loyal to his hometown team when they weren't giving him players he needed to win? It wasn't bad for the league then, right Austin?
Austin, this is a star player’s league and you're not part of that fraternity. Just be thankful you're one of 450 players that is on a roster in the NBA. It's also time to know your role and stick to what you know, being a “role” player.
Yes players sign contracts daily in the NBA and things change and people change. Players aren't binded to these specific teams their whole career. That ship has sailed and it's a rarity in today's NBA. See Austin, you're not relevant enough to request a trade so your comments on contracts, that's something you have to do.
This is why sports can be a little annoying at times, because the media focuses on the wrong things and giving the wrong people air time to talk. We're too engulfed in getting views, likes and clicks.
Let's get back to the talk of when Damian Lillard will be traded, not role players giving irrelevant opinions that have no substance.
I guess the media is suffering that bad these days. Be better and do better and Austin, try to focus on yourself, not a future NBA Hall of Famer…
