With all of the roster changes the Los Angeles Clippers underwent this past offseason including losing franchise point guard Chris Paul, the team has unsurprisingly looked like a shell of their former selves early this season. With Paul out of the picture and replacement Patrick Beverley now done for the season after undergoing knee surgery, a lot of the backcourt responsibilities have fallen on 6th-year man Austin Rivers.
Though Rivers has shown flashes of his potential, Rivers is far too inconsistent and recently had another mental lapse during their 126-107 loss to the Utah Jazz when he got into a heated exchange with a fan.
Austin Rivers doesn't like what this fan had to say ? pic.twitter.com/w8kca82bBb
— Def Pen Hoops (@DefPenHoops) December 1, 2017
Clearly, whatever Rivers had to say was laced with obscene language, something that isn’t tolerated by the NBA. A fine was inevitable and the league levied down the punishment today, fining the Duke product $25,000 for the incident.
Rivers was asked about the exchange following their loss to the Jazz, calling the courtside viewer a ‘fairweather’ fan. Following from Tomer Azarly of ClutchPoints:
“He was being a fairweather a** fan,” said Rivers. “He was talking sh** about the team, but he was cheering the first half. And then the second half he was talking about Steve Ballmer and Doc and DJ and saying demeaning stuff to my other teammates. Austin and DJ, y’all need help. I don’t like that. I like fans who ride or die with you, and there’s a lot of good ones here that show up to the game.
“He was talking shit about the team, not even me.”
Thanks to his expanded role within the team due to injury and a thin guard rotation, Austin Rivers has posted career-best numbers in his 20 games this season.
Rivers has started 18 of those 20 contests thus far and is averaging 13.8 points and 3.4 assists per game. Rivers will likely continue having to carry a lot of the scoring responsibility with Blake Griffin also sidelined with a sprained MCL.
