Doc Rivers has long been respected as one of the great basketball minds. He has earned recognition as one of the top 15 coaches in NBA history. In 2023, he took on a fresh challenge when he was named the head coach of the Milwaukee Bucks.
As a head coach, Rivers also spent seven seasons with the Los Angeles Clippers. With the Clippers, he not only served as head coach but also held the title of senior vice president of basketball operations. His tenure officially came to a close in 2020.
Recently, former Clippers player Matt Barnes reflected on what he believed contributed to the decline of the Lob City era during an appearance on the Club 520 Podcast. Barnes pointed directly to Doc Rivers’ decision to bring in and pay his son, Austin Rivers, at a higher level than some of the team’s veteran contributors.
“He brought his son over, and it was just some weird energy there. He paid his son. I’m not even mad. If I was in the position, I’d pay the s___ out of my son, too. But people don’t understand at the time what that did to people. I mean, he was making more than me, Jamal [Crawford], JJ [Redick] – like guys that were putting in real minutes, you know what I mean? Playing in crunch time. And it kind of had people looking at him funny… when the son came, the energy with that — like guys weren’t really off that,” Barnes said.
Austin Rivers went on to play four seasons with the Clippers. He provided solid guard play before leaving in 2018 to join the Washington Wizards. Interestingly, years later, Austin himself took a public stand defending Bronny James against accusations of “nepotism.”
How Was Doc Rivers’ Los Angeles Clippers’ Tenure?
Rivers officially joined the Clippers in June 2013. He arrived in a rare coach trade from the Boston Celtics. He inherited a roster already filled with star talent, including Chris Paul, Blake Griffin, and DeAndre Jordan, who had electrified fans with their high-flying style known as “Lob City.”
In his very first season in Los Angeles, Rivers’ leadership paid dividends as the Clippers won 57 games and secured the third seed in the Western Conference. However, despite the promising start and a roster stacked with talent, the team never quite clicked when it mattered most.
Over seven seasons, Rivers compiled a strong regular-season record of 356–208. But the Clippers consistently failed to advance beyond the second round of the playoffs. That inability to break through became the biggest blemish on Rivers, and it eventually marked the end of an era for Lob City.
The post Matt Barnes Exposes Harsh Reality Of Doc Rivers’ Nepotism That Sparked Lob City Clippers’ Downfall originally published on Total Pro Sports.