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Austin Rivers Called Bronny James Out Over Nepotism

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Austin Rivers entered the NBA in 2012 with a ton of hype. The New Orleans Pelicans spent a lottery pick on him and envisioned a world where he and Anthony Davis would run roughshod over the NBA for a decade to come.

That didn’t end up happening, though. Austin struggled from the beginning of his Pelicans run all the way to the end. By 2015, it began looking like he would soon be out of the league.

Right around that time, Austin’s dad Doc Rivers stepped in and brought him to the Los Angeles Clippers. In a lot of ways, that salvaged Austin’s career. After spending three years in L.A., he went on to play for four teams in five years between 2018 and 2023.

A lot of people firmly believe that if not for Doc Rivers’ intervention, Austin wouldn’t have enjoyed the lengthy playing career he ultimately had.

This week word emerged that Austin wants to coach in the NBA at some point.

“That is a long term goal of mine,” he said on a recent podcast appearance.

“You see what JJ’s doing, I have a similar path in mind of what I’m trying to do in terms of using the media, and loving being a part of the media and transferring it to a coaching job or a front office job like my father.

“I’m 31 so I want to put in some time, I’ve got to put in some work, another 4 or 5 years of really like building and networking and obviously getting on here, but a goal of mine is I want to be back in the show, I want to comPete man.”

That is when the topic of nepotism came up. When pressed on getting a job solely on the strength of his dad’s reputation, Austin dropped an interest response.

“Well that would be nepotism, I don’t want that,” Rivers said. “I’ve only been around the NBA since I was 6, you know I might know a little bit of something about knowing how to run a team possibly, maybe I don’t know.”

It is worth remembering that not too long ago, Austin called LeBron James’ son, Bronny, out for nepotism. Specifically, he said that the only reason Bronny got massive NIL deals in college was because of his dad.

“We know why [Bronny] got that,” Austin said.

“He got that because he’s the son of LeBron James. I was the number one player in the country. Bronny’s not even- what is Bronny ranked? There was no fluctuation with me. I was one. I was number one in the country.”

Austin doesn’t seem to realize that everything about him is the byproduct of nepotism. He is the face of it even more than Bronny is at this point.

Austin is one of the NBA’s more interesting characters, just because of his story and his reputation. Will he really end up coaching in the league at some point? Time will tell.

Related: Lakers Rival Set To Hire Darvin Ham?

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