The Rivers family isn’t sitting back quietly.
After former NBA guard and current ESPN analyst JJ Redick took Doc Rivers to task on “First Take” on Tuesday, the son of the new Bucks head coach defended his dad.
After Redick claimed the new Milwaukee bench boss was “making excuses” for a 3-7 start since taking over the team, Austin Rivers went on “NBA Today” to not only defend his dad but also call out the ex-guard.
Redick, who played with Austin and was coached by Doc with the Clippers, went as far as to say that there is “never accountability” with the Bucks head coach.
Austin defended his dad and said he gets plenty of blame when things have gone wrong with the teams he coaches.
“For someone who is not accountable, he seems to always be held responsible. Considering he’s the guy who is always fired whenever things don’t go right,” he said. “He got fired in the bubble for a 3-1 lead vs. the Denver Nuggets when half his team didn’t want to be there.
“Then he gets fired for losing to a team that was favored over him, which was the Celtics last year.”
He then called into question why Redick even went after his dad in the first place, seemingly intimating that it stemmed from something during his Los Angeles stint.
“Your best years in the NBA were when you played for him and the Clippers. Let’s not forget that. I don’t know if there’s frustration there or there’s tension between you,” Rivers said. “I know a lot of the time we had to sit you at the end of the game due to defense.
“It’s just very ironic and kind of weird that you have this energy toward him, in terms of him never, ever being accountable considering he was always responsible.”
Redick, in an interesting connection, took over for Rivers on ESPN’s top game broadcast group when the coach left his TV deal to go back to the NBA.
Things have not gone well for Milwaukee’s star-studded group since Rivers took over, losing the last two games, including a 113-110 game to the undermanned Grizzlies in the matchup before the All-Star break.
That led to Rivers saying that the team “had some guys in Cabo,” which, in part, led to Redick’s rant.
While Rivers has been defended vociferously by his son and Patrick Beverley, Redick appeared to have at least one supporter in ex-NBAer and Clipper Marcin Gortat, who posted a green checkmark emoji on X in reference to Redick’s rip job of the coach.
The Bucks have the second half to turn things around as they seek another title.
