With an alley-oop dunk set up by his girlfriend, Audreyana Michelle, Houston Rockets guard Austin Rivers learned the gender of his next child in the familiar setting of a basketball court.
It’s a boy, as indicated by the ball’s blue explosion.
“It broke in the hand,” Rivers wrote in the Instagram caption accompanying the dunk video “But yeah, it’s a boy. Blessed.”
The 28-year-old then gave a subtle nod to NBA legend LeBron James, whose Los Angeles Lakers eliminated Rivers and the Rockets from the playoffs last month and recently won the league’s 2020 title.
Regarding his dunk, Rivers commented:
Was low-key worried about a Bron chasedown [block].
On several transition sequences during their playoff series, James surprised Houston’s guards (including Rivers) with chasedown blocks.
Austin Rivers was looking out for that LeBron chasedown block during his baby’s gender reveal 😂
(via @AustinRivers25, h/t @theScore) pic.twitter.com/yEwKteHzvX
— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) October 13, 2020
Houston teammates Jeff Green, Chris Clemons, and Ben McLemore were among those to congratulate Rivers in the comments section of his Instagram post. Others to respond included Atlanta Hawks forward Evan Turner and All-Star guard Ben Simmons of the Philadelphia 76ers.
In two seasons with the Rockets, Rivers has averaged 8.7 points (34.0% on 3-pointers) and 2.3 assists in 25.6 minutes per game. The 6-foot-4 guard is also valued off the bench for his on-ball defense.
Rivers has a player option on his contract for the 2020-21 season, which he can either pick up (at the league’s minimum salary) or decline to enter free agency. He has yet to offer any indication of his plans.
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