Laurence Fishburne Didn't Know Who NBA's Doc Rivers Was Before Taking 'Clipped' Role

It turns out the allure of playing Doc Rivers in a television series about the Los Angeles Clippers didn't mean too much to Laurence Fishburne.

Appearing on Tuesday's episode of The Dan Patrick Show, the actor revealed he had no idea who Rivers was when he was offered the role on the FX on Hulu miniseries Clipped.

Fishburne's explanation that he's not a sports fan does take away some of the sting. It would be different if he watched basketball and had somehow never come across Rivers' name, either as a player or head coach.

Even though Fishburne isn't a fan of sports, this isn't his first foray into the world of basketball. He served as the narrator for the 2000 IMAX documentary Michael Jordan to the Max about the life and career of the basketball icon.

The documentary featured appearances from several NBA players and coaches, but Rivers is not among those listed on IMDB.

If you are someone who classifies Searching for Bobby Fischer as a sports movie, Fishburne co-stars in the 1993 drama as the mentor to young chess prodigy Josh Waitzkin.

Fishburne is portraying Rivers on the miniseries that chronicles the real-life story about the fallout of a leaked recording featuring former Clippers governor Donald Sterling making racist comments to his mistress V. Stiviano.

The tape was leaked in April 2014 when Rivers and the Clippers were in the midst of a first-round playoff series against the Golden State Warriors.

There was speculation that the Clippers could boycott postseason games, but instead, the players organized a protest by wearing their warm-up gear inside out and tossing their team jackets in a pile in the middle of the court before Game 5.

Rivers was in his first season as head coach of the team when the situation occurred. He would go on to coach the Clippers for seven seasons before stepping down in September 2020.