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 2013/14 to 2022/23, 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 1983/84 to 1995/96). He was named an All-Star with Atlanta, with whom he spent his first eight seasons, in 1987/88.
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.
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.
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!