Glen “Big Baby” Davis and Doc Rivers both helped the Boston Celtics capture their 17th NBA championship 16 years ago in 2008 and now as a convicted felon, the 39-year-old has some choice words for his former head coach.
The gloves were off as Davis opened up about a handful of gripes with Rivers, the current head coach of the Milwaukee Bucks, starting with an interaction during their time with the Los Angeles Clippers. Davis reveals Rivers pulled him from a game against the Houston Rockets, a decision that Davis questioned before Rivers power-tripped and called over team security to remove him.
“When you think about that year, yeah I’m not perfect. But Doc knows me,” Davis told Cam’ron on the “Talk With Flee” podcast. “He knows my heart. He’s seen me play trillions of times and knows that I’ll give anything to be able to play for my teammates and to be able to be on the floor. But that year, Houston, he takes me out the game and it’s heated. I say, ‘Doc, why you brought me here, man? I wanna ball. I’m trying to play.’ He looks at me and he says, ‘Go to the back. Just go to the back.’ At first, I didn’t wanna move, I said, ‘I’m not going nowhere. You’re not about to kick me off.’ And then when he got security to like, ‘Come on, Glen.’ In the middle of a game.”
The incident occurred on March 29, 2014, at Houston’s Toyota Center. Rivers benched Davis after four minutes and two shot attempts, and a back-and-forth led to Davis being sent to the locker room for “disciplinary issues,” according to ESPN.
Rivers lasted seven seasons as the head coach and president of basketball operations of the Clippers following his Celtics stint. That run was riddled with playoff let-downs, blown series leads and the unofficial label as the biggest NBA “what if” of the 2010s, leading to his firing in 2020.
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Los Angeles had prime Blake Griffin and Chris Paul co-lead the “Lob City” era that never reached the Western Conference finals.
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Davis spent two seasons along for the ride, averaging four points and 2.5 rebounds across 97 appearances in a Clippers uniform. Los Angeles utilized the eight-year veteran as a minimal off-the-bench interior aggressor before Davis retired from basketball for good at the end of the 2014-15 season.
That send-off still doesn’t sit well with Davis, now 10 years later.
Davis feels Rivers changed once the Clippers upgraded his role. He highlighted the signing of Doc Rivers’s son, Austin Rivers, in 2015, which is widely regarded as a byproduct of nepotism.
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“He was the president at the time, and when you’re the president you can go and sign your son,” Davis claimed. “… So he was doing anything he wanted.”
Davis also fired off racially motivated remarks toward Rivers, claiming that Spencer Hawes and other white players were granted preferential treatment on the Clippers.
The rift that grew Davis’ lack of trust in Rivers led the two down different, but consistent paths. Rivers failed as head coach of the Philadelphia 76ers and was fired after three seasons in 2023. Davis, meanwhile, was sentenced to 40 months in prison last year for an alleged scheme to defraud the league’s health care benefits plan.
Still, Davis’ feelings for Rivers haven’t changed throughout the years.
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“I never left him at the altar,” Davis said. “Since a rookie, I was there. I was the only rookie there. I was a rookie on that team for three years because every other rookie (on the Celtics) was getting cut or not playing anymore. Me and Avery Bradley were the only ones that stayed because we had a light. We had some talent.”
Davis currently sits behind bars in a federal facility.
Featured image via Chuck Cook/Imagn Images