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Austin Rivers is having a pretty good month: after proposing to his girlfriend recently, he has been re-signed by the Denver Nuggets.
Best of all, it’s a multi-year contract, so he should have some stability.
And Denver can probably use the help too. They have an average backcourt for the most part although Jamal Murray’s pretty good and Will Barton’s not bad either.
But Rivers signed late and got solid minutes off the bench with 26.9 per game. He only played 15 games for Denver and 10 were in the playoffs.
Denver needed help then and now since Murray blew out his left ACL in April and is not back yet.
You’ll recall that he had a falling-out with his last team, the New York Knicks, and maybe also that he made some comments about feeling humbled and grateful that he was still able to play. He is smart enough to realize that he was not going to be a dominant force and has become a hard-working defender and a much better all-around contributor than it looked like he might be after his first few seasons. Somewhat like JJ Redick, he’s gone from being a guy who could have been a bust to a guy who has earned a lot of respect.