Before Doc Rivers and the Bucks officially announced on Monday that he won’t be returning as the team’s head coach for 2026/27, Rivers claimed during an appearance on the Run it Back show on FanDuel TV (Twitter video link) that ESPN’s Shams Charania got upset about Rivers joking prior to All-Star weekend that Giannis Antetokounmpo, one of the captains for the celebrity game, should “trade” Charania.
“Shams took that so personal that he actually called the Bucks and yelled at them to take (the clip) down,” Rivers said, laughing and describing ESPN’s top NBA insider as “emotional.”
Rivers added that he heard from “10 different people” after that incident who told him that Charania would publish a “revenge article” on Rivers and the Bucks, which is how the veteran coach explained last week’s ESPN report that included several behind-the-scenes details from anonymous sources on a dysfunctional season in Milwaukee.
“I just report the news and the truth can hurt sometimes,” Charania said during a Monday appearance on The Pat McAfee Show (Twitter video links). “… If (the Bucks) spent as much time dealing with their own internal problems as they did responding to accurate reports, they wouldn’t be in the mess that they’re in right now. … I’m just here to document and cover it the right way.”
Here’s more on the Bucks:
- Eric Nehm of The Athletic shares his own reporting on a disappointing Bucks season, citing multiple league sources who say that Rivers told several veteran players following a March 21 shootaround in Phoenix that he thought they’d “failed him.” The coach also questioned their “commitment, conditioning, focus, and leadership,” according to Nehm, who said those vets didn’t take kindly to Rivers’ remarks. “That’s when I checked out on this season,” one player told The Athletic.
- In an interview with Mark Medina of EssentiallySports, Bucks broadcaster Marques Johnson said that the Antetokounmpo saga in Milwaukee – including a disagreement between the star forward and the team about his health – is “as toxic as it appears,” referring to it as a “bad situation.”
- Identifying a few potential candidates for the Bucks’ newly opened head coaching position, Jim Owczarski of The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel mentions a couple names that have been previously reported – former Grizzlies coach Taylor Jenkins and current Bucks assistant Darvin Ham – and adds two more to the list: Spurs assistant Sean Sweeney and Heat assistant Chris Quinn. Sweeney is a former Bucks assistant who formed a strong bond with Antetokounmpo, Owczarski notes, while Milwaukee received permission to interview Quinn in the past.
- Antetokounmpo’s future and the head coaching search are the focus of Bobby Marks’ Bucks offseason preview at ESPN.com, but Marks also examines the team’s cap situation and its tradable assets, and suggests Milwaukee needs to find a lead guard and establish an identity on defense after plummeting to 26th in the NBA in defensive rating in 2025/26.
- Fourth-year sharpshooter A.J. Green, whose four-year, $45MM extension will begin in 2026/27, set a new franchise record by making 11 three-pointers in the Bucks’ regular season finale on Sunday. Steve Megargee of The Associated Press has the story.
Shams sold his soul to ESPN. Corporate Shams is nothing but a Sham these days.
Pun intended.
Calling out Shams is nearly the only thing Doc is right about
I miss Woj.
Much like Woj having too much power but then retiring before it got too bad for him, Shams is now doing the whole “getting too much power and using it to boost your ego” crap like Woj was starting to do towards the end. I cant think of a less relevant person to be in the “NBA world” than Shams “the sham” Charania. Get this clown out of here!!
Everyone in the NBAPA should force retire Shams the sham by never talking to him, and telling anyone who talks to him is blacklisted by everyone else. Grifter media is always so annoying, no matter if its sports or politics. Get a real job. “I heard this thing I made up myself” = article! Word count = $!!! – nah, that’s gotta go.
For some reason Shams has always rubbed me the wrong way. Always preening on camera, and those comments prove he had a personal bone to pick.
ESPN has NOT been good for the NBA lately
Shams gave up all his credibility because he’s thin skinned. What’s a waste of a human being.
When will teams learn that wherever Doc goes a dumpster fire ensues. His toxicity is well documented around the league but it is also unfortunate when reporters make it about their own ego.
Doc Rivers has to be one of the worst and most overrated coaches of the last 20 years. All people can ever do is point to his one ring but the players that won it with him were on record saying they ignored him and made their own plays.
The Buck need to quit trading for players on the downside of their career