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Rivers on Curry Trade: "This Was a No-Brainer"

It was a blowout, but the event had to match the magnitude of the moment. 

When Doc Rivers walked his first child and only daughter, Callie, down the aisle last September, he gave her away to one of the most lethal sharpshooters in the NBA.

Rivers and Seth Curry have always been able to claim basketball as a bond. Now, a little more than a year since that memorable wedding on the Malibu waterfront, the duo will be working hand-in-hand for the same franchise.

"I've coached my son, now I get to coach my son-in-law," said a smiling Doc Rivers moments after the 76ers' draft night trade with the Dallas Mavericks became official. 

To land Curry, the Sixers parted ways with Josh Richardson and a second-round pick in Wednesday's draft.

As Rivers said, he's no stranger to putting family members on the floor. Austin Rivers, the second-oldest of Doc's children, played parts of four seasons for his dad for the LA Clippers. 

"One of the things we wanted to do - Elton [Brand], Daryl [Morey], and I - when we got here was create as much shooting as possible around Ben [Simmons] and Joel [Embiid]," said Rivers. "This was a no-brainer."

The numbers speak for themselves.

Curry, who turned 30 in August, is the NBA's active leader in 3-point shooting percentage (44.3%). Over his last three seasons, split between Dallas and Portland, he's combined to knock down 395 threes. 

While Rivers viewed Wednesday's swap first and foremost through a professional lense, he did acknowledge that having Curry on the Sixers will come with personal perks.

 

"[Seth] is a good kid - a great kid - with a great basketball IQ and he loves the game, so I'm looking forward to all of it."

Trading for Curry was just one of several productive draft day developments for the Sixers. 

All in all, Rivers felt his new club was in better shape by the end of the day than the start.

"I think we've improved our basketball team, improved our basketball IQ, and increased our shooting, which is the one thing they said we didn't have. Now we do."

Get an analysis of the 76ers' big draft night on The BroadCast