PLAYA VISTA – Ever since early childhood, when Clippers guard Austin Rivers needs to relax, to check out and calm down, he’ll sit in his room, music on, building model replicas of his favorite cars. He estimates he’s done this more than 300 times in his life.

But after he signed a three-year, $35 million deal, he traded in the models for the real thing – a matte gray Ferrari F12 sports car.

“I’ve always been a fan of cars, and Ferrari is my favorite car,” Rivers said.

He loved them so much, before he owned one, Rivers would visit the Beverly Hills Ferrari dealership to talk with staff members, picking their brains about other car companies, about mechanics and about speed.

That’s why he splurged.

“The Ferrari’s a dumb purchase,” he said, noting that it’s already depreciated. “I love cars, though. I didn’t get it (as a look-at-me status symbol). I can afford a Ferrari; I could’ve bought one two years ago but you don’t understand what I mean when I say I have a passion for cars. I go to the Ferrari dealership a few times a week.”

This, it turns out, doesn’t surprise members of his family.

“It was a given,” Doc Rivers said of the Ferrari purchase. “I’m shocked it took this long.”

Austin Rivers wants to spend his summer in Italy, touring the factory, perhaps taking a few special cars for test drives. But mostly, he wants to meet the engineers and the people responsible for building something great.

“I love how they’re made,” he said. “I love cars, and Ferrari’s the king of cars.”

On the court, like on the road, Rivers is convinced he’s ready to make a jump in class.

He finished last season with new-found respect, the result of his stellar performance in the Clippers’ final playoff game. He scored 21 points, grabbed six rebounds and had eight assists while leaving plenty of blood in Portland after an errant elbow. A moon-shaped scar around the outside of his left eye is still visible months later.

But for Rivers, performances like that only confirm what he’s always believed – that he’s ready for the NBA’s fast lane.

“It helped with people respecting me more. I think last season in general, people were like, ‘OK, he can play,’” Rivers said. “I think it was (expletive) that I had to do that anyways because I’ve been killing my whole life.

“So I had a couple of years where I struggled? So many players do that,” he said.

Now a credible rotation player largely because of his defense, Rivers thinks this will be a season when his offensive game catches up.

“Sometimes, you have to play games with yourself. I was like, if I can become a good defender, I can play more minutes and actually get back to slowly work on my offense. I’ve been able to do that,” he said. “I’m always going to play defense because that’s what got me to where I am now. But, it’s the offense that’s going to take me to the next level. And, that’s always who I’ve been anyways.”

Eventually, people will get to see that on an expanded basis, on a team where he’s not backing up one of the best point guards in the world. He had a chance, he said, to get out and try to prove he’s a starter in the NBA.

Houston was interested. So were Brooklyn and the New York Knicks.

“I took less to come back here,” he said. “… I’m not taking this for granted. I was on a team where it was very bad. There are only four or five teams in the league with a realistic chance to win this year, and I think we’re one of them. I’m not taking this for granted. I know if I go somewhere else, I might not ever be on a team like this again. A lot of people go their whole career and never play on a team like this.”

Based on his performance in Portland, Doc Rivers thought the Clippers might lose Austin, 24, to the lure of more minutes and a bigger role

“He could’ve had that opportunity,” Doc Rivers said. “For him to come back, it shows that winning is far more important and he enjoys the group.”

And for people who think he stayed because he’s had it easier playing for his father? Well, Austin politely disagreed.

“It’s the complete opposite. People who think that are (expletive) idiots. It actually gets me angry,” he said. “You can say it. ‘People are idiots.’ You can write that one down.

“I haven’t played for him my whole life, so it’s not like I had it easy. The whole rest of my career – when I was still successful – the No. 1 player in high school, one of the top five, top 10 players in college at Duke. I wasn’t with my father. I haven’t had it easy.”

And, in an expanded role with more attention and a bigger paycheck, he can expect things to get tougher. He’ll be asked to do more defensively, to shoot the ball more consistently, to break out and score more frequently.

For it to all work out, everything has to be just right – the precision, the handling, the acceleration. The only thing Rivers never worries about is slamming on the brakes. When it comes to his future, he’s pressing the gas pedal.

“I think it’s just a matter of time until I come into my own,” Rivers said.

And, with a Ferrari F12 beneath him, Rivers plans to get there pretty quickly.

NOTE

The Clippers will enter the 2016-17 season with 15 players, getting to Monday afternoon’s roster deadline without any changes to their plans. Rookies Diamond Stone and Brice Johnson both made the team, as expected.

NBA teams may not have more than 15 players on their roster, and while the Clippers value the flexibility of having an open spot, they liked the group they have more.

Contact the writer: dwoike@scng.com