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Austin Rivers | Guard

Team: New Orleans Pelicans
Age / DOB:  (21) / 8/1/1992
Ht / Wt:  6'4' / 200
College: Duke
Contract: view contract details
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Latest News

Recent News

Austin Rivers has been a DNP-CD for the Pelicans in three out of four games to begin the season.
With Tyreke Evans in town and Eric Gordon healthy enough to log starter's minutes, Rivers has drawn the short straw in the Pelicans' backcourt. He showed improvement this summer, looking more physical and confident with his shooting and playmaking, but it hasn't amounted to anything yet this season and fantasy owners can safely ignore him. Nov 6 - 9:29 AM

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Player News

Date:
Austin Rivers - G - Pelicans

The Pelicans elected to exercise their third-year option on Austin Rivers on Wednesday.

While this is good news for Rivers, it still doesn't change the fact that the second-year player will likely struggle for minutes behind Tyreke Evans, Jrue Holiday, and Eric Gordon barring injury. The Pelicans have been shifting Rivers player between point guard and shooting guard during the preseason, but his 37.2 shooting percentage as a rookie doesn't bode well for him winning minutes at shooting guard. The best-case scenario for fantasy owners here entails Rivers sliding into a sixth-man role, but even that may be too ambitious at the moment.
Related: Eric Gordon, Tyreke Evans, Jrue Holiday
Source: John Reid on Twitter
Oct 16 - 4:58 PM
Austin Rivers - G - Pelicans

Austin Rivers will start at SG for the Pelicans on Sunday, with Anthony Morrow shifting to the bench.

The rest of the starting five will stay the same, and Monty Williams said he's starting Rivers "to get him some minutes, to see how he does in that role." Morrow and Rivers will both take a backseat whenever Eric Gordon (ankle) returns to action, which may happen some time this week.
Related: Anthony Morrow, Eric Gordon
Source: NBA.com
Oct 13 - 1:03 PM
Austin Rivers - G - Pelicans

Austin Rivers scored 21 points and handed out five assists in the Pelicans' comeback win on Saturday.

He only hit 7-of-18 FGs and 7-of-13 FTs, but he stole the ball twice with one turnover in 31 minutes. His role will quickly expand if Tyreke Evans' ankle injury costs him any games. But when Tyreke is in the lineup there's little incentive to own Rivers, who shot 37.2 percent as a rookie.
Related: Tyreke Evans, Brian Roberts
Oct 5 - 11:02 PM
Austin Rivers - G - Pelicans

Austin Rivers said he played point guard all practice long on Tuesday.

Now that the Pelicans have an initial plan to use Tyreke Evans as their sixth man, Rivers is much less likely to get minutes at shooting guard. It looks to be the right decision since the second-year guard shot a hideous 37.2 percent from the field in 2012-13, so now he can be more of a facilitator. He's not worth drafting in fantasy leagues and is unlikely to hold much value while Jrue Holiday is healthy.
Source: Bourbon St. Shots on Twitter
Oct 1 - 2:12 PM
Austin Rivers - G - Pelicans

Austin Rivers hopes to emerge as a sixth-man for the Pelicans next season.

"I want to be the guy that comes off the bench like a sixth-man, me and Ryan Anderson," said Rivers. "I'd rather come in off the bench and have the offense handed to me." He said he'll "adjust" to new teammate Tyreke Evans by playing more off-ball minutes and knocking down shots, which could be a challenge since he shot 37.2 percent as a rookie.
Related: Tyreke Evans
Source: HoopsWorld
Aug 7 - 9:43 AM
Austin Rivers - G - Pelicans

Austin Rivers tweaked his right calf during Friday's Summer League game, but stayed in the game and finished out the contest.

We're filing this in the unimportant category until we hear more, but it never helps when the injuries appear to pile up on a young player. Rivers has a lot of work to do to become fantasy relevant, but at least he hasn't fallen all over himself so far in Summer League action. After last season's disaster, that was an outcome very much in doubt.
Source: John Reid on Twitter
Jul 19 - 9:10 PM
Austin Rivers - G - Pelicans

Austin Rivers scored 24 points on 8-of-15 shooting to go along seven rebounds, six assists and one steal in his Las Vegas Summer League debut.

Rivers looked much more confident than he did all of his rookie year. The former first-round pick played solid defense and only turned the ball over twice. Rivers also got to the free-throw line 11 times, hitting seven of them. Still, showing some awareness for the competition, coach Monty Williams said Rivers did "just OK." Rivers has a lot of high-priced veterans in front of him, but this was a good first step after a dreadful 2012-13 season.
Jul 12 - 6:25 PM
Austin Rivers - G - Pelicans

Austin Rivers will play both guard positions during summer league play.

Rivers said after his dreadful rookie season he prefers to play point guard, but that was before New Orleans traded for Jrue Holiday. He's still blocked by Eric Gordon at shooting guard and Tyreke Evans can also play the two. At this point, it's hard to find a spot for him on the floor considering the loaded backcourt in New Orleans. Rivers will have to make quite the impression in summer league play and training camp to earn some time.
Source: John Reid on Twitter
Jul 11 - 3:16 PM
Austin Rivers - G - Pelicans

Austin Rivers (hand) has been working out with Kyrie Irving in Miami.

Rivers was already deemed "back to normal" by Monty Williams back on June 11 and he should be busy this summer in hopes of bouncing back from an ugly rookie season. He shot just 37.2 percent from the field last year and won't be worth drafting in most leagues next season.
Related: Kyrie Irving
Source: Steve Kyler on Twitter
Jun 20 - 7:34 PM
Austin Rivers - G - Pelicans

Austin Rivers (hand) is now "back to normal," according to Monty Williams.

Rivers was given the OK to ditch his cast previously, and it's good to know Rivers is at 100 percent health well before we get deep into the summer. "He's working out, lifting and doing all the stuff that coaches have him doing," Williams said. Rivers is expected to spend time at both guard spots again in 2013/14.
Source: New Orleans Times-Picayune
Jun 11 - 8:23 AM
Austin Rivers - G - Pelicans

Austin Rivers (hand) is no longer wearing a cast and is back doing basketball activities.

It's unclear when Rivers got the cast off, but it's definitely a couple weeks after he was supposed to be cleared to work out on the court. That said, Rivers has plenty of time to heal and rehab before training camp opens and should be 100 percent by the time summer league play begins. Rivers is coming off an extremely disappointing rookie season, but the Pelicans aren't yet giving up on the No. 10 overall pick from last year's draft. "He looks really good," Monty Williams said.
Source: New Orleans Times-Picayune
Jun 6 - 6:11 PM
Austin Rivers - G - Pelicans

ESPN confirms that the Pelicans are not "giving up" on G Austin Rivers.

Rivers had a wildly disappointing rookie season, but it would be silly to give up on the No. 10 overall pick from the 2012 draft. They'll likely pass on a small guard like Trey Burke or C.J. McCollum in favor of a small forward or some bulk up front. Rivers has to improve on his 37.2 shooting this offseason.
Source: ESPN.com
Jun 4 - 3:28 PM
Austin Rivers - G - Pelicans

Austin Rivers (hand) was expected to be cleared for basketball activities earlier in the week.

Rivers made the announcement in an appearance on ESPN's First Take, and it makes sense given he was slapped with a four-to-six week timetable on March 12 when he had the surgery. It's now been about 10 weeks since the procedure, and we don't expect Rivers to have any physical limitations entering his sophomore season.
Source: BourbonStreetShots.com
May 24 - 8:39 AM
Austin Rivers - G - Pelicans

Austin Rivers says he would prefer to play point guard next season.

Rivers was drafted as a bit of a combo guard and the Hornets used him at shooting guard while Eric Gordon was sidelined. Of course, Rivers had arguably the worst rookie season ever, at least from a shooting point of view. The rookie shot just 37 percent from the field and 32 percent from 3-point range in 61 games. "I played best when I was a one. Moving forward, that's what I'm going to try to do," Rivers said.
Source: New Orleans Times-Picayune
May 1 - 4:06 PM

Depth Charts

All Positions
PosRoleName
PG1Jrue Holiday
2Brian Roberts
3Austin Rivers
SG1Eric Gordon
SF1Al-Farouq Aminu
2Tyreke Evans
3Anthony Morrow
4Darius Miller
5Lance Thomas
PF1Anthony Davis
2Ryan Anderson
C1Greg Stiemsma
2Jason Smith
3Jeff Withey