Prized buyout market targets No. 3: Austin Rivers
Another potential buyout market guard target that could greatly help to fill a need in this spot in the rotation for first-year head coach Billy Donovan and the Bulls is the recently acquired Thunder floor general Austin Rivers. The former Duke Blue Devil and son of Philadelphia 76ers head coach Doc Rivers is pretty likely to be bought out after getting traded from the New York Knicks to the Oklahoma City Thunder at the March 25 deadline.
Rivers landed with the Thunder as part of a multi-team trade that involved them, the Knicks, and the Sixers. The headlining parts of this trade involved veteran point guard George Hill landing with the Sixers and a host of draft picks back to the Thunder.
There’s no much use that the Thunder can get out of Rivers at this point. While he might be able to take some of the load in the backcourt rotation offensively off of rising star guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander down the stretch, he’s more than likely to be bought out when it’s all said and done.
The Bulls could really use some help in their backcourt rotation to provide more of a consistent offensive spark from the one than they’re currently getting off the bench from White. While the future of White in the Windy City could still be bright, the Bulls might need a more reliable option off the bench to succeed more down the stretch this season.
Rivers showed in the past that he can help with a playoff push in becoming a key second unit guard that provides a scoring spark.