K. C. Rivers

Kelvin Creswell Rivers (born March 1, 1987) is an American professional basketball player for Zenit Saint Petersburg of the VTB United League and the EuroLeague. Standing at 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m), he plays at the shooting guard and small forward positions.

K. C. Rivers
Rivers with Khimki, in 2012
No. 1 – Zenit Saint Petersburg
PositionShooting guard / Small forward
LeagueVTB United League
EuroLeague
Personal information
Born (1987-03-01) March 1, 1987
Charlotte, North Carolina
NationalityAmerican
Listed height6 ft 4 in (1.93 m)
Listed weight217 lb (98 kg)
Career information
High schoolOak Hill Academy
(Mouth of Wilson, Virginia)
CollegeClemson (2005–2009)
NBA draft2009 / Undrafted
Playing career2009–present
Career history
2009Latina
2009–2010Treviso
2010–2011Chorale Roanne
2011Virtus Bologna
2011–2012Lokomotiv Kuban
2012–2013Khimki
2013–2014Reno Bighorns
2014–2015Real Madrid
2015Bayern Munich
2015–2016Real Madrid
2016–2018Panathinaikos
2018–2019Reggiana
2019Crvena zvezda
2019Real Betis
2019–2020Žalgiris Kaunas
2020–presentZenit Saint Petersburg
Career highlights and awards

High school career

Rivers attended high school at Oak Hill Academy, in Mouth of Wilson, Virginia, where he played high school basketball. While there, he helped his team capture two USA Today national high school basketball championships. In those two years, his team's record was a combined 72–2. He holds Oak Hill's record for the most three-point field goals made in a game, with 15.

College career

Rivers played college basketball at Clemson University, with the Clemson Tigers, seeing action in 102 games, while starting 55 of those games. Rivers averaged 14.2 points, and grabbed 6 rebounds a game, in his four years at Clemson.

Professional career

After failing to be drafted in the 2009 NBA draft, Rivers signed with AB Latina of the Italian LegaDue Basket, the Italian second-tier league, in August 2009.[1] In 10 games with Latina, he averaged 24.5 points and 5.7 rebounds per game, and in December 2009, he signed with Benetton Treviso of the Italian top-tier league, the LBA, for the remainder of the season.[2]

On June 30, 2010, he signed a contract with Chorale Roanne of the French LNB Pro A for the 2010–11 season.[3] In January 2011, he returned to Italy and signed with Virtus Bologna, for the rest of the season.[4]

On July 29, 2011, he signed a one-year deal with Lokomotiv Kuban of Russia.[5] On May 30, 2012, he signed a two-year deal with another Russian team, Khimki Moscow Region.[6] In July 2013, he parted ways with Khimki.[7]

In November 2013, he was acquired by the Reno Bighorns of the NBA D-League.[8] In 47 games played in the D-league, he averaged 15.8 points and 4 rebounds per game, during the 2013–14 season.

On August 7, 2014, he signed a one-year deal with the Spanish club Real Madrid.[9] In the 2014–15 season, Real Madrid continued its successes in the EuroLeague from the previous seasons, advancing to the EuroLeague Final Four for the third straight time. In the semifinal game against Fenerbahçe Ülker, Rivers helped his team to secure its third straight EuroLeague Finals appearance, by scoring 17 points, on 5 of 6 shooting from the three-point line, in a 96–87 win.[10] Real Madrid eventually won the EuroLeague championship, after defeating Olympiacos in the EuroLeague Final, by a score of 78–59.[11] Over the season, Rivers averaged 5.3 points, 2.3 rebounds, and 1.1 assists per game, to help his team win its ninth EuroLeague title overall, and its first in 20 years. Real Madrid eventually finished the season by also winning the Spanish League championship, after a 3–0 series sweep in the Spanish League Finals series against Barcelona. With the Spanish League title, they won the triple crown.[12]

On September 8, 2015, Rivers signed a one-year contract with the German club Bayern Munich.[13] On December 22, 2015, he left Bayern,[14] and returned to his former club, Real Madrid, for the rest of the season.[15][16]

On July 24, 2016, Rivers signed a 1+1 deal with the Greek club Panathinaikos.[17] He soon established himself as a favorite player of the club's fans mainly because of his excellent performances against the arch-rivals of Olympiacos BC.

On December 7, 2018, Rivers signed a deal with the Italian club Pallacanestro Reggiana.[18] He parted ways with Reggiana in February 2019.[19]

On February 11, 2019, Rivers signed for Serbian club Crvena zvezda for the rest of the 2018–19 season.[20][21] On August 20, 2019, Rivers signed a one-year deal with Spanish club Coosur Real Betis.[22]

On November 22, 2019, Rivers signed with Lithuanian club Žalgiris Kaunas for the remainder of the 2019–2020 season.[23][24]

On July 6, 2020, Rivers signed with BC Zenit Saint Petersburg for upcoming 2020–2021 season.[25]

Career statistics
Legend
  GP Games played   GS  Games started  MPG  Minutes per game
 FG%  Field-goal percentage  3P%  3-point field-goal percentage  FT%  Free-throw percentage
 RPG  Rebounds per game  APG  Assists per game  SPG  Steals per game
 BPG  Blocks per game  PPG  Points per game  PIR  Performance Index Rating
 Bold  Career high

Note: The EuroLeague is not the only competition in which the player participated for the team during the season. He also played in domestic competition, and regional competition if applicable.

† Denotes seasons in which Rivers won the EuroLeague

EuroLeague
Year Team GP GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG PPG PIR
2012–13 Khimki 241726.3.445.364.5332.71.5.8.19.67.5
2014–15† Real Madrid 301617.0.432.4111.0002.31.1.6.05.35.1
2015–16 Bayern 10223.5.457.431.6672.31.3.5.110.88.0
2015–16 Real Madrid 17417.5.609.315.7781.5.8.8.16.75.7
2016–17 Panathinaikos 33527.4.488.420.7802.5.8.8.111.27.7
2017–18 31423.2.500.358.6562.7.81.1.18.56.5
Career 1454822.4.503.386.7012.41.2.8.18.76.9

Domestic leagues
Season Team League GP MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG PPG
2009–10Latina BasketLegaDue1238.1.477.371.7675.71.21.8.124.5
Benetton BasketLBA2330.2.489.442.8254.31.31.5.212.3
2010–11Chorale Roanne BasketLNB Pro A1429.7.523.360.7144.61.91.0.114.3
Canadian Solar BolognaLBA1731.8.432.580.8114.41.61.9.217.2
2011–12PBC Lokomotiv-KubanRussian PBL1724.4.513.431.7504.4.9.9.011.4
VTB United League1927.1.481.402.8064.31.01.2.011.2
2012–13BC KhimkiRussian PBL1318.5.487.413.7892.51.1.8.28.5
VTB United League2420.0.480.494.5712.21.40.9.08.6
2013–14Reno BighornsD-League4730.7.510.352.8524.02.21.30.115.8
2014–15Real MadridLiga ACB4217.7.600.393.8331.9.8.6.15.7
2015Bayern MunichBasketball Bundesliga1324.3.512.442.8333.42.21.00.415.0
2015–16Real MadridLiga ACB10?.559.536.5712.72.00.80.18.7
2016–17PanathinaikosGBL3221,3.458.416.6202.30.91.10.38.9

Personal life

Rivers is the nephew of former NBA player Byron Dinkins. Rivers is married, and has 2 children, Maiyah and Micah.

References
  1. Latina agreed to terms with KC Rivers
  2. Benetton Basket brings in guard KC Rivers
  3. Chorale Roanne adds scoring ace KC Rivers
  4. Virtus Bologna lands KC Rivers
  5. LOKOMOTIV KUBAN tabs Rivers
  6. K.C. Rivers reinforces BC Khimki
  7. KC Rivers, Khimki part ways
  8. Bighorns Open Training Camp Archived 2014-01-04 at the Wayback Machine
  9. Real Madrid tabs swingman Rivers
  10. "Real Madrid heads to third straight final after beating Fenerbahce". euroleague.net. 15 May 2015. Retrieved 15 May 2015.
  11. "Real Madrid is Euroleague champion for record ninth time!". euroleague.net. 17 May 2015. Retrieved 22 May 2015.
  12. "Real Madrid make it 4 out of 4". marca.com (in Spanish). 24 June 2015. Retrieved 24 June 2015.
  13. "Shooting guard K.C. Rivers joins Bayern". fcb-basketball.de. September 8, 2015. Retrieved December 26, 2015.
  14. "K.C. Rivers opts to move on". fcb-basketball.de. December 22, 2015. Retrieved December 26, 2015.
  15. "Official Announcement: K. C. Rivers". realmadrid.com. December 22, 2015. Retrieved December 23, 2015.
  16. "K. C. Rivers returns to Real Madrid". realmadrid.com. December 22, 2015. Retrieved December 23, 2015.
  17. Panathinaikos inks former champ Rivers
  18. "Grissin Bon, ufficiale l'ingaggio di K.C. Rivers" [Grissin Bon officially signed K.C. Rivers]. legabasket.it (in Italian). December 7, 2018. Retrieved December 8, 2018.
  19. "KC Rivers in Belgrade, close to deal with Crvena Zvezda". eurohoops.net. Retrieved 10 February 2019.
  20. "Rivers i zvanično potpisao za Crvenu zvezdu!". b92.net (in Serbian). Retrieved 11 February 2019.
  21. "K. C. Rivers signs with Crvena zvezda mts". aba-liga.com. Retrieved 11 February 2019.
  22. "Real Betis announces KC Rivers (with a funny video)". Sportando. 20 August 2019. Retrieved 20 August 2019.
  23. "Official: KC Rivers leaves Coosur Real Betis". Sportando. 22 November 2019. Retrieved 28 November 2019.
  24. Askounis, John (22 November 2019). "K.C. Rivers officially joins Zalgiris". Eurohoops. Retrieved 22 November 2019.
  25. "K.C. Rivers Joins Zenit Saint Petersburg". BallersAbroad. 6 July 2020. Retrieved 6 July 2020.
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