Introduction
Kelvin Creswell "K. C." Rivers (born March 1, 1987) is an American professional basketball player for Panathinaikos of the Greek Basketball League and the EuroLeague. Standing at 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m), he plays at the shooting guard and small forward position.
High school and college career
Rivers attended high school at Oak Hill Academy in Virginia. 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 most three-point field goals in a game with 15.
He played college basketball at Clemson University 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
Rivers went undrafted in the 2009 NBA draft. In August 2009, he signed with AB Latina of the Italian Legadue Basket, second-tier league. 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 LBA, for the remainder of the season.
On June 30, 2010, he signed a contract with Chorale Roanne of the French LNB Pro A for the 2010–11 season. In January 2011, he returned to Italy, and signed with Virtus Bologna for the rest of the season.
On July 29, 2011, he signed a one-year deal with Lokomotiv Kuban of Russia. On May 30, 2012, he signed a two-year deal with another Russian team, BC Khimki. In July 2013, he parted ways with Khimki.
In November 2013, he was acquired by the Reno Bighorns of the NBA D-League. In 47 games, 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 Real Madrid. 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 from 6 shooting from the three-point line, in a 96–87 win. Real Madrid eventually won the EuroLeague championship, after defeating Olympiacos in the EuroLeafue Final, by a score of 78–59. 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 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.
On September 8, 2015, Rivers signed a one-year contract with the German club Bayern Munich. On December 22, 2015, he left Bayern, and returned to his former club, Real Madrid, for the rest of the season.
On July 24, 2016, Rivers signed a 1+1 deal with Greek club Panathinaikos.
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 | 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 | .0 | 5.3 | 5.1 |
| 2015–16 | 27 | 6 | 19.7 | .446 | .371 | .708 | 1.8 | 1.0 | .7 | .1 | 8.2 | 6.6 | |
| Career | 81 | 39 | 20.6 | .442 | .379 | .672 | 2.2 | 1.2 | .7 | .0 | 7.6 | 6.3 |
Domestic leagues
| 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 | .9 | .0 | 8.6 | ||
| 2013–14 | Reno Bighorns | D-League | 47 | 30.7 | .510 | .352 | .852 | 4.0 | 2.2 | 1.3 | .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 |
Personal life
He is the nephew of former NBA player Byron Dinkins. Rivers is married, and he has one daughter (Maiyah).