Doc Rivers is stepping down as head coach of the Milwaukee Bucks, according to ESPN. Rivers, recently selected for the Basketball Hall of Fame, was hired by the Bucks midway through the 2023-24 season to replace Adrian Griffin and salvage a contender built around Giannis Antetokounpo and Damian Lillard. Instead, he leaves the team after missing the postseason as the Antetokounmpo era in Milwaukee potentially draws to a close. The Bucks lost Sunday’s season finale and finished the season with a 32-50 record.
Rivers coached four NBA teams before joining the Bucks: the Magic, Celtics, Clippers and 76ers, winning a championship with the Celtics in 2008 and moving on to television after leaving Philadelphia. However, despite a 30-13 record, the 2023-24 Bucks weren’t clicking under first-year coach Adrian Griffin. The Bucks reportedly asked Rivers to consult Griffin during his first year on the job, but after Griffin was fired, they hired Rivers as his replacement.
Milwaukee went just 17-19 during Rivers’ first half-season on the job, losing in the first round to the Indiana Pacers. Milwaukee made it back a year later, but again fell to Indiana with Lillard tearing his Achilles tendon during the series. At this point, Antetokounmpo’s future with the Bucks became a major point of speculation. The Bucks convinced him to stay into 2025-26 season after waiving Lillard to sign Myles Turner as a shot at remaining competitive, but it became clear fairly early in the season that Milwaukee was no longer capable of contending.
That raised questions about Rivers’ future with the team. Initially, one of his own players, Bobby Portis, speculated that he wouldn’t leave the Bucks because he still had another expensive year left on his contract. “I don’t think he’s walking away from that $15-16 million,” Portis said. However, in the season’s final week, Rivers indicated that he was seriously considering the end of his Bucks tenure.
“I have grandkids that I want to see,” Rivers said. “I’ll put it that way. And so I’ll let you figure it out from there. I have seven grandkids now and they’re all eight years and under and it kills me every time I miss Grandparents’ Day with each one of them in school. It’s probably time to go see them more, so I’ll let you figure out the rest.”
If this is the end of Rivers’ Hall of Fame coaching career, he’ll retire with a record of 1,194-865. He is a one-time NBA champion with another Finals berth and several deep playoff runs on his résumé. His Hall of Fame selection puts a cap on what has been an enormously successful coaching career.
The Bucks, meanwhile, are set to move into a very uncertain future. Antetokounmpo will either be extended or traded this offseason, governor Wes Edens has said. Few other players on the roster have cemented themselves as long-term fixtures in Milwaukee. Rivers may have been the first significant departure, but you can expect a lot more change to come in Milwaukee over the next several months.
