Morey: Doc Rivers Will Return As Sixers’ Head Coach

Asked directly during his end-of-season press conference whether Doc Rivers would be back in 2022/23 as the Sixers‘ head coach, president of basketball operations Daryl Morey provided a simple response, tweets Kyle Neubeck of PhillyVoice.com.

“Yes,” Morey said.

Rivers, who was hired by the Sixers during the 2020 offseason, has led the team to a 100-54 (.649) regular season mark in the past two years, but hasn’t gotten out of the second round of the playoffs. Philadelphia lost to the Hawks in the Eastern Conference Semifinals a year ago and to Miami in the same round this year.

There had been some speculation that Rivers could be on the hot seat for failing to lead the Sixers to at least the Eastern Finals, since the team had championship aspirations following its deadline deal for James Harden. Additionally, Rivers’ hiring preceded Morey’s arrival, so there was a sense that Philadelphia’s lead basketball executive may want to bring in his own coach.

However, Morey’s response today should quell that speculation for the time being. Prompted to expand on the decision to stick with Rivers, Morey had nothing but praise for the 60-year-old.

“I just think he’s a great coach and I love working with him,” Morey said (Twitter link via Neubeck). “… I think (general manager) Elton (Brand) and I and him make a great team, and we’re going to see where this journey takes us.”

Rivers reportedly still has three years and $24MM left on his contract, so it would have been expensive for team ownership to make a change at this point.

View Comments (32)