Previously, the Knicks had only two combinations of father and son to play for the organization. On the final night of 2020, they are scheduled to add a third.
After missing the entire preseason and the first four games of the regular season with a groin injury, combo owner Austin Rivers is due to make his Knicks debut on Thursday night against the Toronto Raptors in Tampa. Rivers’ father Doc, the current Philadelphia Sixers coach, played for the 1992-94 Knicks.
Rivers, 28, says he injured his groin a few days before being acquired in a sign-and-trade contract with Houston on November 22, agreeing to a $ 10 million three-year deal with the Knicks . Only the first year of the deal, however, is guaranteed.
“It was an adjustment. I never missed a full training camp. I didn’t get to play a game, a pre-season game, nor did I get to 5 against 5 yet. I’m going to get to the point, ”said Rivers ahead of Thursday’s game. “It’s basketball at the end of the day. You just go out there and play hard and it’s not rocket science. You are just trying to help the team win. “
The nine-year-old NBA veteran added that he was unsure whether he would be in a minute constraint on his Knicks debut, or where he would fit in a guard rotation behind holders Elfrid Payton and RJ Barrett.
Frank Ntilikina (sprained right knee) and Dennis Smith Jr. (left quadrant) were excluded from Thursday’s game, with Alec Burks (sprained left ankle) and newcomer Immanuel Quickley (hip pointer) listed as questionable. Quickley had missed the previous three games due to an injury sustained in the Knicks’ loss at the season opener in Indiana.
First-year coach Tom Thibodeau put the Knicks “playing hard”, noted Rivers, with wins in his two previous games against Milwaukee and Cleveland. Thibodeau was a member of the Doc Rivers team in Boston from 2007-10.
“I will be honest, even as an individual, I enter without having played with them, the only thing I know I have to do – shots, I can do everything, I can lose everything. I’m going to regain the feeling and the pace when playing these games – but the only thing that needs to be consistent is that when I’m there, I have to play hard, ”said Austin Rivers. “Because this is how our team is symbolized now. We are one of those teams, there is no night off when you play against the Knicks. That is the mindset that we are trying to establish here.
“I know that successes and mistakes can falter, but your effort does not. That’s what Thibs instilled in this team. I’m just going to come in and play hard. “
The 1.8m Rivers averaged 8.8 points and 1.7 assists, while hitting 42.1 percent of his shots (35.6 percent of the three-point range) over 23.4 minutes in 68 games (four games) with Houston last season.
Only two other father-son pairs appeared at regular season games with the Knicks: Ernie and Kiki Vandeweghe, and Henry and Mike Bibby.
Doc Rivers, who trained Austin for four seasons with the Clippers, said earlier this month that he pressured his son to sign with the Knicks because of the “great experience” he had with the organization.
“I think it’s the whole environment of everything that Thibs came up with,” said Austin Rivers. “I think it has been a difference because that is what he requires. There is no other option. You don’t play hard, you don’t play. This is exactly what happens to him. I think everyone understands this image in our team. And I think everyone knows – if you don’t play a lot, you won’t play.
“There are only a few teams that have this identity and that is what we are trying to build here. Thibs is doing a great job and we are just following this. Everyone is moving the ball and playing hard and that’s what it will be. “