It was a historical moment for NBA when Austin Rivers finally signed up for LA Clippers on a three-team deal with Boston Celtics and Phoenix Suns on Thursday, according to ESPN. Rivers will be moving to Los Angeles as a new member of the Clipper's roster where his father, Doc Rivers, is the coach.
This is going to be the first time that a father and son would be working for the same team in the entire history of the organization. Although technically, Coby Karl became a member of the Denver Nuggets in 2010 of which his father, George Karl, was a coach at the time but he did play during the coaching stint of his father.
But Austin River's successful recruitment to the Clippers was more of a certainty than luck. Doc Rivers, being the president of the Clippers basketball operations, "had the authority to sign off acquiring his 22-year old son", ESPN reports.
Now that his son is under his watch, Doc has been facing questions about what his coaching style would be. Will it be different from the rest of the guys? Will he show some degree of favoritism?
Well, Doc boldly responds: "I probably show favoritism to Blake [Griffin] and Chris [Paul]. I love my son, but I think I'm going to still favor Blake and Chris and those guys", shares ESPN.
In 2012, Austin Rivers was tenth in the NBA overall draft by the New Orleans following a season from Duke University. And despite being new to the realm, the young Rivers has registered an average PPG of 6.8 points, 1.9 rebounds, and 2.3 assists in 35 games for the New Orleans this season.
The three-team deal would also send Clippers to Celtics and Suns: Reggie Bullock will be sent to Phoenix and Chris Douglas-Roberts will be acquired by Celtics, as reported by The Source.
Doc Rivers was initially shying away from the thoughts that perhaps his son would be drafted by other teams; anyway, he still wasn't sure how it would be a great moment for him to coach his own son. But later on, he admitted that he would love to be working with Austin.
"I would love the opportunity, I guess. It would be uncomfortable. I just think that would be a strange thing to do. Having said that, I wouldn't mind. He can score, and I think that would be great for us", shares Yahoo Sports.
We'll see how the father and son tandem works for the Clippers.
Learn more about Austin River's trade to LA Clippers on this video:
