Suns officially waive Rivers after trade with Wizards
The Austin Rivers era in Phoenix is over.
The Phoenix Suns have agreed to part with the 26-year-old guard, the team announced.
Rivers was officially acquired from the Washington Wizards on Monday along with Kelly Oubre Jr. in exchange for Suns forward Trevor Ariza.
Both Rivers and the Suns reportedly felt he would be a better fit on a team with postseason aspirations, league sources told ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski. Even after Monday night's 128-110 beatdown of the New York Knicks (in which neither Rivers nor Oubre Jr. was active), Phoenix is just 7-24 on the season, 9.5 games behind the eighth-seeded Dallas Mavericks.
He is owed $12.7 million for the 2018-19 season, the final year of his contract.
The 6-foot-4 combo guard averaged 7.2 points, 2.4 rebounds, and two assists through 29 appearances with Washington. Prior to his time with the Wizards, Rivers had shown increased proficiency as a scorer, averaging 13.4 points and 3.3 assists per game from 2016-18 with the Los Angeles Clippers, currently coach by his father, Doc Rivers.