After two years with the Rockets, free agent guard Austin Rivers is moving on to the New York Knicks, per ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski.
During two seasons in Houston, Rivers averaged 8.7 points (34.0% on 3-pointers) and 2.3 assists in 25.6 minutes per game. Now 28 years old, the 6-foot-4 guard was also valued off the bench for his on-ball defense.
With the Rockets subject to a hard salary cap after the sign-and-trade acquisition of Christian Wood, they were very limited in what they could offer Rivers. Thus, the Knicks — which had a sizable amount of salary cap room — likely had a financial advantage. They might also be able to offer Rivers a larger on-court role, since New York doesn’t have established guards in place like Russell Westbrook and James Harden.
Houston should be able to replace some of the loss in perimeter defense with newcomers like Sterling Brown and David Nwaba. However, they will likely need to bring in another point guard with ball-handling skills to replace Rivers’ duties as the primary backup to Westbrook.
One year deal for Rivers, per source. https://t.co/mfOQ2XZYCH
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) November 22, 2020
