J.J Redick went off on Doc Rivers and this didn’t sit down well with Austin Rivers.
The NBA season for 2023–2024 doesn’t start until Thursday night, when the Association’s All-Stars return to their clubs and get ready to play. However, in the meanwhile, NBA discussion has taken over sports talk shows. Since there aren’t any real games to discuss, some of the programming has turned into personal feuds between past players and one current coach.
Reddick’s take on First Take which caused the uproar
Rivers’ comments regarding the challenges of taking over a team—and a competitive one at that—in the midst of an 82-game season clearly infuriated Redick on Tuesday morning’s episode of “First Take” on ESPN.
Redick said on “First Take” on Tuesday,
“I’ve seen the trend, I’ve seen the trend for years,”
“The trend is always making excuses. Doc, we get it. Taking over a team in the middle of a season is hard. Just like getting traded in the middle of a season is hard for a player, we get it.
“It’s always an excuse. It’s always throwing your team under the bus. They lose to Memphis, ‘oh it’s his players fault!’ Memphis was playing G League guys and two-way guys. You look at his quotes over the weekend and now he wants to take credit for the James Harden trade to the Clippers working out? He wants credit for that? There’s never accountability with that guy.”
.@jj_redick on Doc Rivers 😳 pic.twitter.com/JRgLD1rx74
— First Take (@FirstTake) February 20, 2024
Austin Rivers response to J.J. Reddick trashing Doc Rivers
Later in the day, Austin, Doc’s son, who played with the Clippers for three seasons as Redick’s teammate, lost it over an insult to his father on “NBA Today,” another ESPN program. Doc Rivers coached Redick during his “best” NBA seasons, according to Austin Rivers. Redick was sending “ironic” and “weird” “energy” toward the elder Rivers, considering that Redick averaged nearly 16 points per game during his four seasons in Los Angeles and started all but one of the regular-season games.
Reddick with Doc Rivers
"In terms of accountability, your best years in the NBA were when you played for him and the Clippers… It's just very ironic and kinda weird that you have this energy towards him."
Austin Rivers responds to JJ Redick criticizing his dad Doc.pic.twitter.com/jV64Cza2UF https://t.co/jtm6E4Mjyj
— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPoints) February 20, 2024
Rivers is back on the bench, so Redick will be taking over on ESPN and ABC’s primetime NBA broadcasts. Maybe the ex-sharpshooter is venting all of his anger before starting his new job.
