Houston Rockets guard Austin Rivers could suit up for the Houston Rockets again next season. Before he does, the veteran guard revealed he wants to test the free agency market first to see what other opportunities are out there for him first.
“I definitely want to be out there on the market,” Rivers told The Ringer’s Logan Murdoch on the ‘Real Ones’ podcast this week. Rivers’ latest reveal isn’t an official goodbye to the Houston Rockets.
Although Rivers has a player option on his contract for the 2020 season that he plans to opt-out of, he isn’t leaving Houston in the dust. “I love Houston,” Rivers admitted. “Houston’s still one of my main options. That’s a team I loved playing for. But there are other teams out there that you want to look at. You owe it to yourself to at least see the best situation.”
The 28-year-old guard has a lot of basketball left in the tank and he knows it. While he won’t enter the free agency market as one of the NBA’s most notable stars, Rivers is the kind of player contending teams would like to add to come off their bench and offer some quality minutes.
Over the last two seasons, Rivers averaged 8.4 points-per-game off the bench, while knocking down 33-percent of his long-range jumpers. Finding a position to come off the bench for a championship contender is what Rivers is likely looking for.
While Houston doesn’t appear to be heading in a direction where they’ll fall out of playoff contention, they don’t seem to be viewed as one of the top teams in a tough Western Conference. Rivers’ departure from Houston isn’t a sure thing — but his return is clearly far from guaranteed at this point.
