Kelvin Creswell Rivers (born March 1, 1987) is an American professional basketball player who last played for BC Samara of the VTB United League. 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
Free agent
PositionShooting guard / small forward
Personal information
Born (1987-03-01) March 1, 1987 (age 37)
Charlotte, North Carolina
NationalityAmerican
Listed height6 ft 5 in (1.96 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
2020–2021Zenit Saint Petersburg
2021–2022Bayern Munich
2022Hapoel Jerusalem
2022–2023BC Samara
Career highlights and awards

High school career

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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.[citation needed]

College career

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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.[citation needed]

Professional career

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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]

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 the 2020–2021 season.[25] On July 9, 2021, Rivers officially parted ways with the Russian club.[26] On December 10, he returned to Bayern Munich.[27] Rivers parted ways with the team on January 25, 2022.[28]

On February 22, 2022, Rivers signed with Hapoel Jerusalem B.C. in Israel.[29]

On August 3, 2022, Rivers signed with BC Samara of the VTB United League.[30]

Career statistics

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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

EuroLeague

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Denotes seasons in which Rivers won the EuroLeague
* Led the league
Year Team GP GS MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG PPG PIR
2012–13 Khimki 24 17 26.3 .445 .364 .533 2.7 1.5 .8 .1 9.6 7.5
2014–15 Real Madrid 30* 16 17.0 .432 .411 1.000 2.3 1.1 .6 5.3 5.1
2015–16 Bayern Munich 10 2 23.5 .442 .431 .667 2.3 1.3 .5 .1 10.8 8.0
2015–16 Real Madrid 17 4 17.5 .437 .315 .778 1.5 .8 .8 .1 6.7 5.7
2016–17 Panathinaikos 33 5 27.4 .449 .420 .780 2.5 .8 .8 .1 11.2 7.7
2017–18 31 4 23.4 .409 .358 .656 2.7 .8 1.1 .1 8.5 6.5
2019–20 Žalgiris 18 8 21.4 .444 .412 .900 1.5 1.1 .9 9.3 6.7
2020-21 Zenit 37 13 22.3 .400 .355 .455 2.5 .7 .5 .1 6.1 4.5
2021–22 Bayern Munich 6 1 16.2 .395 .313 .667 1.3 1.0 .3 6.2 3.3
Career 206 70 22.4 .431 .382 .696 2.3 1.0 .7 .1 8.1 6.2

Domestic leagues

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Season Team League GP MPG FG% 3P% FT% RPG APG SPG BPG PPG
2009–10 Latina Basket LegaDue 12 38.1 .477 .371 .767 5.7 1.2 1.8 .1 24.5
Benetton Basket LBA 23 30.2 .489 .442 .825 4.3 1.3 1.5 .2 12.3
2010–11 Chorale Roanne Basket LNB Pro A 14 29.7 .523 .360 .714 4.6 1.9 1.0 .1 14.3
Canadian Solar Bologna LBA 17 31.8 .432 .580 .811 4.4 1.6 1.9 .2 17.2
2011–12 PBC Lokomotiv-Kuban Russian PBL 17 24.4 .513 .431 .750 4.4 .9 .9 .0 11.4
VTB United League 19 27.1 .481 .402 .806 4.3 1.0 1.2 .0 11.2
2012–13 BC Khimki Russian PBL 13 18.5 .487 .413 .789 2.5 1.1 .8 .2 8.5
VTB United League 24 20.0 .480 .494 .571 2.2 1.4 0.9 .0 8.6
2013–14 Reno Bighorns D-League 47 30.7 .510 .352 .852 4.0 2.2 1.3 0.1 15.8
2014–15 Real Madrid Liga ACB 42 17.7 .600 .393 .833 1.9 .8 .6 .1 5.7
2015 Bayern Munich Basketball Bundesliga 13 24.3 .512 .442 .833 3.4 2.2 1.0 0.4 15.0
2015–16 Real Madrid Liga ACB 10 ? .559 .536 .571 2.7 2.0 0.8 0.1 8.7
2016–17 Panathinaikos GBL 32 21,3 .458 .416 .620 2.3 0.9 1.1 0.3 8.9

Personal life

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Rivers is the nephew of former NBA player Byron Dinkins. Rivers is divorced, and has 2 children, Maiyah and Micah.[citation needed]

References

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  1. ^ "Latina agreed to terms with KC Rivers".
  2. ^ "Benetton Basket brings in guard KC Rivers". Welcome to 7DAYS EuroCup. December 8, 2023.[dead link]
  3. ^ "Chorale Roanne adds scoring ace KC Rivers". Welcome to EUROLEAGUE BASKETBALL. December 10, 2023.
  4. ^ "Virtus Bologna lands KC Rivers".
  5. ^ "LOKOMOTIV KUBAN tabs Rivers - Eurocup 2011-12 - Welcome to Eurocup". September 25, 2011. Archived from the original on September 25, 2011.
  6. ^ "Basketball Club Khimki". bckhimki.com.
  7. ^ "KC Rivers, Khimki part ways".
  8. ^ "Bighorns Open Training Camp". NBA.com. Archived from the original on January 4, 2014.
  9. ^ "Real Madrid tabs swingman Rivers". Welcome to EUROLEAGUE BASKETBALL. December 10, 2023.
  10. ^ "Real Madrid heads to third straight final after beating Fenerbahce". euroleague.net. May 15, 2015. Retrieved May 15, 2015.
  11. ^ "Real Madrid is Euroleague champion for record ninth time!". euroleague.net. May 17, 2015. Retrieved May 22, 2015.
  12. ^ "Real Madrid make it 4 out of 4". marca.com (in Spanish). June 24, 2015. Retrieved June 24, 2015.
  13. ^ "Shooting guard K.C. Rivers joins Bayern". fcb-basketball.de. September 8, 2015. Archived from the original on March 4, 2016. Retrieved December 26, 2015.
  14. ^ "K.C. Rivers opts to move on". fcb-basketball.de. December 22, 2015. Archived from the original on March 4, 2016. 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". Welcome to EUROLEAGUE BASKETBALL. December 10, 2023.
  18. ^ "Grissin Bon, ufficiale l'ingaggio di K.C. Rivers" [Grissin Bon officially signed K.C. Rivers]. legabasket.it (in Italian). December 7, 2018. Archived from the original on December 9, 2018. Retrieved December 8, 2018.
  19. ^ "KC Rivers in Belgrade, close to deal with Crvena Zvezda". eurohoops.net. February 10, 2019. Retrieved February 10, 2019.
  20. ^ "Rivers i zvanično potpisao za Crvenu zvezdu!". b92.net (in Serbian). Retrieved February 11, 2019.
  21. ^ "K. C. Rivers signs with Crvena zvezda mts". aba-liga.com. Retrieved February 11, 2019.
  22. ^ "Real Betis announces KC Rivers (with a funny video)". Sportando. August 20, 2019. Retrieved August 20, 2019.
  23. ^ "Official: KC Rivers leaves Coosur Real Betis". Sportando. November 22, 2019. Retrieved November 28, 2019.
  24. ^ Askounis, John (November 22, 2019). "K.C. Rivers officially joins Zalgiris". Eurohoops. Retrieved November 22, 2019.
  25. ^ "K.C. Rivers Joins Zenit Saint Petersburg". BallersAbroad. July 6, 2020. Retrieved July 6, 2020.
  26. ^ "Zenit bids farewell to KC Rivers". Sportando. July 9, 2021. Retrieved July 11, 2021.
  27. ^ Yahyabeyoglu, Fersu (December 10, 2021). "Rivers comes back to Bayern, ex Zenit". Eurobasket. Retrieved December 10, 2021.
  28. ^ Skerletic, Dario (January 25, 2022). "Bayern Munich, K.C. Rivers part ways, guard to join CBA team". Sportando. Retrieved January 25, 2022.
  29. ^ "KC Rivers signs with Hapoel Jerusalem". basketnews.com. Retrieved February 22, 2022.
  30. ^ Skerletic, Dario (August 3, 2022). "BC Samara lands KC Rivers". Sportando. Retrieved August 15, 2022.
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