It was during an exchange with Joe Johnson on instagram.
Johnson said that the clippers broke up because of the utah jazz and then barnes chimed in and blamed it on doc giving his son the money.
I actually think he played pretty well for the money he was being paid lol, dude was a very solid player.
by Accurate-Albatross34
40 Comments
Barnes vs Rivers celebrity boxing, brought to you by, all the smoke promotions.
Clippers made like 4 signings at once, and Austin Rivers’ wasn’t even that much money among them. It’s not like it was an overpay — Jamal Crawford rightfully got more. Austin just got his market value as a role player. Also Matt Barnes wasn’t even on the team that season. So I’d probably take this with a grain of salt.
Stop. Austin Rivers wasn’t an awful player, he was just average. Doubt it was nepotism honestly
Fucked with the vibes
Is Matt Barnes still salty the Clippers traded him? Get over it bro.
IMO The Coach’s Son played the best ball of his entire life for The Lob City Clippers. With the exception of that one time he [came](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0LAgNwNmrc&ab_channel=bloodsploosh).
Matt Barnes seems like such a dumbass.
Why are people talking so much about Austin Rivers? Is it because nepotism is back on the table with Bronny?
Austin Rivers could actually play. He played like 10 seasons and 700 games. Maybe being coached by your own father isn’t the smartest thing out there but he was still a decent player.
Austin Rivers was a decent player. That was a good contract.
Clippers broke up after KD went to the Warriors. That’s the reason. KD made them irrelevant. And before that, the Steph Warriors were already too good for LAC.
Barnes and Jackson have this weird rage on for Austin Rivers. He was a solid role player and made role player money.
Austin was definitely signed due to nepotism, but he was a solid role player for them. There’s a reason he played for 4 more years after leaving his dad’s team and it’s not cuz the Rockets, Nuggets, Wolves and Knicks really like Doc Rivers lol.
Matt Barnes also thought it was a good idea to berate a high school basketball announcer, which is evidence of how much credence to give anything the man says.
Listening to All The Smoke pod will confirm Barnes and Jackson aren’t the sharpest tools in the shed
Austin was solid by the end of his tenure, was def not as good during his initial start. Maybe could’ve gotten someone better at the deadline when the team had a legit shot at winning a chip
Man he played well with the clippers. Hustled hard and played with a lot of heart.
This is just sour grapes lol. Austin was far from the worst signing Doc made as Clippers GM
Lob city wasn’t winning anything
is matt barnes even better than austin rivers? they’re pretty much the same tier of a player lol
You were doomed from the start if that’s what it took to break the team up
They broke up bc they weren’t quite elite enough, not cuz doc gave out a nepo deal. And Austin did fine for them tbh
Matt Barnes is like Windhorst of retired NBA players. Sounds like he has knowledge but in general says nothing correct
I think most people saying he was good for the Clippers (which is true for the most part) and Barnes is just talking shit are forgetting how things went down.
Austin Rivers was terrible for the Pelicans and was traded to Boston as a throw in to facilitate a Jeff Green trade. He was gonna be a free agent and he was only gonna get DNPs in Boston. That’s when Doc traded for him, gave him 20 minutes per game on a playoff team despite him not being good and after the season gave him a guaranteed contract with a player option after the first year (which he declined and Doc re-signed him for a big contract).
Did Austin end up living up to the contract? Probably (good on him for putting the work and improving) but at the time every single person thought Doc was prioritizing saving his son’s career over the Clippers title hopes. I know people want to hate on Barnes (fair enough) and I’m not sure if that’s quite what “broke up Lob City” but I can absolutely believe the Clippers locker room wasn’t happy with the whole thing at the time, in fact I’d be surprised if they weren’t.
Austin improving after all that doesn’t change the fact that the Clippers players definitely felt a certain way about Doc-Austin while it was happening.
Whether Austin played well or not is irrelevant.
Nepotism fucks with all sorts of team chemistry and undermines and calls into all decision making and authority. It’s the type of shit that makes you question the reality of things in a workplace.
I’ve said this a few times. I watched the lob city clippers multiple times live and it was the fucking worst. Doc bitches from tip off to last whistle regardless of the score. Then cp3 bitched all the time and it rubbed off of Blake and guys like jj and even Caron would bitch and moan. Deandre looked like the child abused over and over and looked miserable.
Docs voice carries on the court and it’s just crazy annoying hearing it for 3 hrs straight.
Rivers was a good player on the Rocketd.
Matt Barnes gets way too much respect. Dude is a fucking asshat.
Barnes would’ve done the exact same thing and then gone on and on about the importance of loyalty and Stak would’ve said it proves he’s a real one.
one of the bigger mistakes Doc made was letting Collison go and signing Spencer Hawes. iirc doc was more or less the gm of that team
There must’ve been deeper issues with the Clippers if the signing of Austin Rivers broke the team
It might have created some tension but the real issue for the Clippers breakdown was the intensity of the dislike that Griffin and Jordan had for Chris Paul’s domineering tendencies.
Matt Barnes trying to be the next Kendrick Perkins
Austin Rivers wasn’t very good, and when you think about how small an NBA roster is every spot matters. Wasting it on the coach’s son so he can have a pricey internship weakens the roster and probably annoys the guys who are talented enough to be in the league.
I don’t follow the Clippers closely and don’t remember the ins and outs of that team, but some lottery picks get all kinds of chances to stick to a team. Kevin Knox was in the league last year. Frank Ntilikina was on a team for the 2022-2023 season.
Austin Rivers is far from the only lottery pick that got a chance after his first situation didn’t work out. Doc being his dad didn’t hurt of course, but let’s not act like he’s the only lottery pick to ever get a chance. And he made it work, so maybe the other scouts or player personnel in LA also liked Rivers’ game.
I’ll never understand why anyone listens to Matt Barnes
I thought he did not have a good relationship with his son
All the post breakup Clippers drama is high key awesome
Bro Austin rivers wasnt even that bad, i dont understand
That’s dumb. Austin legit won the clippers playoff games. Huge game in 2015 against the spurs. Hit 7 straight baskets. Clippers would have been down 3-1 if he didn’t go crazy. Won without cp3 against the rockets in two different games. Then the year after almost forced a game 7 with no Blake and no cp3 against a lillard led blazers if it wasn’t for a dumb loose ball foul on a rebound by Jeff green.
I don’t think many clippers fans from the lob city days hold any dislike for rivers.
Real reason it failed wasn’t just the dislike of cp3 by Blake and Deandre. It was that cp3 and Blake kept getting injured or kept disappearing in the ducking clutch.
I thought it had to do with their top 2 stars hating eachother.
100% agree with OP, would go even further to say that Austin Rivers was arguably the best contract Doc gave out.