Doc Rivers may have shut down trade talk as soon as the questions popped up Wednesday morning, but his son was far more open. Austin Rivers said the Knicks expressed significant interest in him during free agency and added that if the Clippers did trade him for Carmelo Anthony, he would roll with the move pretty quickly.
"They were a huge option," Austin Rivers said of the Knicks, adding that Phil Jackson and Jeff Hornacek visited his Orlando, Fla., home, and Hornacek shared visions of Rivers teaming up with Derrick Rose. "That was a team that I was really considering."
Regarding the trade talk, he said that "obviously, when it happens, it'll be new for me, but after that, it's whatever. Just focus on playing basketball, help my team, that's it."
Two weeks ago, multiple outlets reported that the Knicks had approached the Clippers for a trade for Rivers, who can play both guard positions and just re-signed for three years, $35 million, and Jamal Crawford. It makes sense: Rivers is 24, with an attractive contract, and traits that most certainly attracted Hornacek in free agency.
"Jeff had a vision of playing a little bit up-tempo," Rivers said of the Knicks' pitch to him. "I don't know how that's panned out or what they've done, but I think that also changes when you've got certain players. ... He wanted to [coach us the way he] coached that Suns team, they wanted to get up and down and he thought me and Derrick could play together, get up and down, start '1' and '2.' "
Add to that the increasingly volatile situation in the Knicks' world, and Rivers could be the easy way out. Off-the-court drama has seemingly intensified the rift between Anthony and team president Phil Jackson, with the latest hit coming Tuesday, when Jackson, who has openly criticized his star player all season, took to Twitter again.
This time, Jackson tweeted that a Bleacher Report article criticizing Anthony "almost rings the bell" and compared Anthony to pro basketball flameout Michael Graham. "I learned you don't change the spot on a leopard with Michael Graham in my CBA daze," he wrote.
Though Anthony has not definitively said that he would waive his no-trade clause, his former coach at Syracuse, Jim Boeheim, said he thinks he'd do it for the Clippers or the Cavaliers.
"I think it depends on the team," he said Wednesday on SiriusXM's Mad Dog Sports Radio Channel. "I think [the Clippers or the Cavaliers] would be ideal. But I don't know if it can be worked out. I hope it can."
Boeheim called Anthony a proven winner and added that the Knicks "have to make a move. It's just not going anywhere. I think he's playing as well as he can play but they can't go anywhere. I'd love to see him get an opportunity to play with somebody that could win."
Doc Rivers, meanwhile, said trade talk has been quiet, but that ended the disclosures. "That's your guys' story," he said, addressing the New York media. "Not our story. I'm amused by it. I read all your stuff. You guys are doing a great job of writing. That really is your story, not ours. We're really not involved in it.
"We don't have Carmelo. I swear to God. He plays for the Knicks. That's your story and that's the way we leave it. You can ask us about our guys, but Carmelo is not on our team."
True, but it doesn't mean the Clippers can't use him. They will be without Chris Paul (torn ligament in left thumb) for at least a few more weeks, and they're 2-6 since they lost him. And though Doc Rivers told the Los Angeles Times Monday that "nothing is going on," Austin appears prepared for any eventuality.
"It's part of a business," he said. "I knew that coming here. I knew that coming into the NBA. I grew up around it my whole life. It's always a business first and it's always about winning first, no matter who is on the team."
