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Austin Rivers and Chris Paul debunk “bull—-” rumors

By Paul Tooke

LOS ANGELES, CA - JANUARY 17: Professional basketbal players Austin Rivers and Chris Paul attend the State Farm Chris Paul PBA Celebrity Invitational held at Lucky Strike Lanes at L.A. Live on January 17, 2017 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Jesse Grant/Getty Images for Professional Bowlers Association)
LOS ANGELES, CA - JANUARY 17: Professional basketbal players Austin Rivers and Chris Paul attend the State Farm Chris Paul PBA Celebrity Invitational held at Lucky Strike Lanes at L.A. Live on January 17, 2017 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Jesse Grant/Getty Images for Professional Bowlers Association) /
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Despite reports and rumors of Austin Rivers being the reason that Chris Paul wanted to leave the LA Clippers, both players recently made statements disproving that assumption.

ESPN SportsCenter anchor Michael Eaves’ posted the following about Austin Rivers after the Chris Paul trade broke the internet for fans of the LA Clippers.

Here's some information on the Chris Paul trade. First the MICRO:Paul's relationship with Doc Rivers started to…

Posted by Michael Eaves on Wednesday, June 28, 2017

As if having our team captain and starting point guard leave wasn’t enough, now there were reports that one of our other players was the reason for his departure. The details in this post are so shocking and specific that you would think Eaves was in that locker room with Paul and Rivers. Luckily, all of this is apparently false. Here is what Chris Paul said about it in a new interview with The Undefeated:

"“No, that report wasn’t true. If anything, Austin has grown up a lot and is getting better. I heard the report. It’s not worth responding to.” -Chris Paul via The Undefeated"

This was extremely timely, as the other night, Austin Rivers gave the media this statement on the rumors of the apparent tension between the two guards:

"“I called Chris and was like, ‘Chris, what’s going on?’ Chris is like, ‘This is the biggest bull[expletive] I’ve ever seen in my life.’ Chris was just like, ‘This is a joke.’ So I asked him, I’m like, ‘You don’t need to come out and say nothing publicly, I don’t need you to do that. It’s just going to make it even more, now they’re going to drag it out two more days. I’ll take it. I don’t care. I’ve been dealing with this [dynamic] since I was six [years old]. I really don’t even care.'” -Austin Rivers via Bleacher Report"

The statement from Austin came first, so critics could respond in disbelief. However, Paul’s words on the matter confirm the rumors and reports as lies. Looking deeper at Austin’s statement, it is really disappointing that he has to deal with so much criticism and become a fall guy because of his DNA. Yes, he is his coach’s son, but he is still a legitimate NBA competitor. The basketball world could have turned this Rivers father-son combination into a beautiful thing, yet it has somehow become a pit for haters to dump their criticism into. Austin doesn’t let it get to him though, in fact, based on his recent improvement as a member of the LA Clippers, I would assume he has used all the hate as motivation. You can see the maturity he has gained just from the statement.

All of this mess started nearly 20 days ago when Eaves made that Facebook post. Hopefully Austin Rivers’ and Chris Paul’s statements on the matter can help clear things up, and we can continue to enjoy real reports rather than falsely blaming one player for another’s decision.

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