Bucks head coach Doc Rivers will be among the Hall of Fame inductees for the class of 2026, a person familiar with the matter told Brad Townsend of The Dallas Morning News. The full class will be revealed this Saturday, April 4.
Rivers, who was named a North American committee finalist last month, has compiled the sixth-most wins in NBA history across his 27 seasons as a head coach. The 64-year-old holds a career regular season record of 1191-861, for a .580 win-loss percentage.
Rivers’ teams have made the playoffs in 21 of his 27 seasons, including the longtime coach’s lone championship with Boston in 2008. He also led the Celtics to the NBA Finals in 2010, when they lost to the Lakers in seven games.
Aside from those two deep postseason runs, Rivers’ playoff results have been pretty mixed. Despite having a ton of regular season success with the Clippers and Sixers from 2013-23, none of those clubs advanced past the second round.
The only other team Rivers coached that reached a conference final was Boston in 2012. He holds a career playoff record of 104-102 (.504 win percentage).
Milwaukee was eliminated from postseason contention on Saturday for the first time since 2016.
A native of Illinois, Rivers also played 13 years in the league (from 1983-96). He was named an All-Star with Atlanta, with whom he spent his first eight seasons, in 1988.
Townsend’s story is largely centered on former Mavericks head coach Dick Motta, whose family was told on Monday that he won’t be inducted this year. It was the third time the 94-year-old has been a finalist but the first time since 2012, Townsend notes.
Motta, who had two different stints with Dallas, also coached the Bulls, Bullets (now Wizards), Kings and Nuggets. He holds a career regular season mark of 935-1017 (.479) and a playoff record of 57-70 (.444).
As Townsend writes, Motta is 14th on NBA’s all-time win list, and of the coaches in the top 15, only Rivers, Motta and Pacers coach Rick Carlisle aren’t in the Hall of Fame. Obviously that will change for Rivers later this year.
Motto also coached junior high, high school, junior college and major college basketball, according to Townsend, who points out that the Utah native led the Washington Bullets to back-to-back NBA Finals appearances in 1978 and ’79. The Bullets won the championship in ’78.
Had to get this out of the way before he retires this offseason.
Why retire when he can keep getting paid tons of money to do nothing? If the Bucks fire him, I’m sure he can find another team to swindle out of money. Sacramento beckons.
While Sacramento might be completley incompetent, Rivers isn’t.
He took the MIL job expecting to contend with Giannis and Dame and Lopez and Middleton. He needs a veteran roster at this point, he isn’t an upstart coach.
He is not taking the SAC job at the start or a rebuild. They would need to offer him a Monty style contract. He’s too old for that ****. He can just do TV if he wants.
Doc has kept getting hired because he’s seen as a good coach for teams that want to contend and have solidified rosters. Sacramento obviously has a veteran roster, but they suck.
If he tricks another team into hiring him, it’ll be a team that has all the pieces to be good and doesn’t plan on massively changing anything after bringing him in. I can’t think of a team like that that has an opening at HC. Maybe Golden State if Kerr retires.
Travesty
What’s with these HOFs lately? Doc Rivers in? Belichick out? Something ain’t right!
April Fool’s?
👍👍
Lmao
Shawn Kemp – 3x All-Star
Joe Johnson – 7x AS
Amar’e Stoudemire – 6x AS
Anfernee Hardaway – 4x AS
Rasheed Wallace – 4x AS
Jermaine O’Neal – 6x AS
Marques Johnson – 5x AS
Kevin Johnson – 3x AS
Doc Rivers – 1x AS
Cool. Let them all in, please.
I get he is getting elected for his coaching, but really just wanted an excuse to post this list of guys who should be in.
I wont lie, I totally forgot how damn good Jermaine O’Neal was back in the day
Joe Johnson on the Hawks was a lot nastier than people remember.
You’re still not wrong man, coach or not how the F is that list that long and he’s getting in?
Call me crazy, but I think every multi-time NBA and WNBA all-star should be in the Basketball Hall of Fame.
NBA is not MLB where every team gets a player, NBA is 12 on 12 of the best current players, not many mids ever sneak in. If you are a “multi-time all-star” you have fame, and belong in any Halls of.
I’m not sure I’d set the bar that low, but that entire list you shared is put in the HOF if I had a vote.
My argument against multiple ASs being the floor requirement would be Celtics IT.
He was so fun to watch in Boston and made multiple Allstars but is he HOF? Idk about that.
Brandon Roy was a 3 time all star. Not his fault that his career was cut short by injuries, but its hard to make a case that 3 great seasons and a 6 year career should get you in.
Roy was straight up nasty for those 4 years, I would put him in, because NBA careers are on average shorter than the other sports.
NBA careers aren’t the shortest, that’s NFL.
Isaiah is such an interesting case, because he absolutely was HOF-level before his injuries. Is Kirby Puckett in MLB a comp?
Someone find the whole list of eligible players who played in 2+ all star games who are not in the HOF and we can pick them apart and make arguments for or against lol
Yeah what happened to him was so sad. He had so much heart. He played so hard.
I’m short AF so I’m EXTRA biased about this too lmao
IT averaged 28.9 PPG on a first place team…that’s a bad, bad man…also with a great attitude, despite all the horrible things constantly happening to him. Played the game the right way. I would put him in with the Kirby Puckett logic, he likely would have made it had his body not be constantly exploding.
Speaking of short kings, Kevin Johnson was a lot better than everyone remembers too. I specifically watched him a lot when I was 12, he was so dominant, like on Curry-level at his best. Just took apart teams by himself. Proving shorter guys can still wreck shop, as the ball has a lower center of gravity and the taller guys have a lot more space between their hand and the court – more space for shorter guys to steal!
I know the cool thing is to hate on Doc Rivers but the guy deserves to be in the Hall Of Fame. They’re in the article so I’m not going to relist all the accolades.
They all deserve it as well but Adelman, Nelson, Karl and Sloan are all in the Hall and he’s got one thing on all them. He’s got a ring.
^this^
Doc is a lifer. He has given his all to basketball. The HOF of basketball is for your contributions to the game of basketball. Doc deserves recognition. He’s a HOFer …. Congratulations Glenn Anton Rivers 🙏
Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame (HoF) recognizes basketball globally across all levels—including men, women, amateur, professional, international play, and coaching. Unlike pro-centric leagues, the Springfield-based HoF covers the entire sport’s history, honoring contributors worldwide rather than just the NBA.
Can’t disagree. Barrier to entry isn’t super high anyway. Overrated but can’t not let him in I guess.
If he was going in as a “Contributer”, your comment makes sense.
As a player, absolutely not.
As a coach with a .578 winning percentage and 1 championship that he’s milked for for almost 20 years… that’s not Hall of Fame worthy, in my opinion.
If so, Mike Brown is a first ballot guy.
If you’re going to mention that Doc has the sixth most wins of any coach all time, you should mention that he also has the seventh most losses. Nothing but a longevity stat.
Only to coach to blow multiple 3-1 leads in NBA history
Goes the same way with LeBron’s longevity stats then, yeah. A bit overrated – but, as for now, a TOP 10 all-timer, anywhere from #7 to #10 is Brawny Senior.
NBA lifer who probably deserves the honor. Decent player, lasted forever as a coach and quickly hired when available multiple times, pretty good broadcaster too.
Maybe the one ring helps, I’m not sure, but it doesn’t hurt. The playoff success was not there with some pretty good teams, but you could say he at least had great regular season success, and quite a bit of it.
Sixth most regular season wins in coaching history, a title, an above .500 record in the playoffs, and a very good playing career. No doubt that Doc’s teams should have done better in the playoffs, but the resume is that of a HOF’er.
Always put in place with an already loaded team and failed! Never built one up to be contender just tore them all down. Lol
This is a joke right?
Why would it be a joke? Doc has better winning % and as many championships won as a coach as Lenny Wilkens does. That goes for Larry Brown as well.
Don’t misinterpret my saying Doc belongs in the HOF as me thinking he’s an awesome coach. He’s a better than average coach who’s numbers stack up or exceed those of other coaches that have already been enshrined.
Doc 2nd Round Rivers does not belong in the HOF. He’s almost as overrated as Joe Namath is in football.