APRIL 13: The move is official, the Bucks announced Monday morning (Twitter link).
“I have truly loved my time in Milwaukee,” Rivers said in a statement. “Coming back to where I got my start, to a city that has always embraced me, has been a privilege. I am disappointed that things did not turn out the way any of us hoped, but I am deeply grateful for this experience, the relationships built and unwavering support from our fans and the community. Milwaukee will always mean a lot to me, and this chapter will hold a special place in my heart.”
APRIL 12: Doc Rivers will not be the Bucks‘ head coach next season, according to ESPN’s Shams Charania (Twitter link), who reports that Rivers is departing his role.
Echoing prior reporting, Michael Scotto of HoopsHype says the expectation around the league is that Rivers could join the Bucks’ front office in a role that has yet to be determined.
Following a three-year stint in Philadelphia from 2020-23, Rivers was hired by the Bucks during the 2023/24 season to replace Adrian Griffin. He compiled a 97-103 record (.487) across two-and-a-half seasons in Milwaukee, leading the team to two playoff appearances. The club went 3-8 in the postseason under Rivers and didn’t get out of the first round.
While ill-timed injuries to Giannis Antetokounmpo and Damian Lillard played a role in the Bucks’ lack of playoff success in 2024 and 2025, the team was never close to making the postseason this year. Milwaukee finished the season with a 32-50 record, its worst mark since the 2013/14 season.
A longtime coach who won a title in Boston and had a winning record on the sidelines for the Magic, Clippers, and Sixers, Rivers compiled a 1194-866 regular season mark (.580) over the course of 27 seasons as an NBA head coach. He will be enshrined in the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame later this year as a member of the class of 2026.
As Charania notes (via Twitter), Rivers had one more year remaining on his contract, so Milwaukee will be on the hook for his 2026/27 salary. The Bucks will now embark upon a search for his replacement, with former Grizzlies coach Taylor Jenkins expected to be a prominent target.
“Doc Rivers will not return to coaching.”
Fixed it.
Time to ride of into the sunset with that HOF induction
Should have fired him the day he was named a HoFer, that would have been hilarious.
Remember when the Bucks thought Coach Bud was not a good coach? lmaooooo
Bucks front office being so desperate to impress Giannis completely backfired. Not making excuses, just kind of comical the progression of events. I know they had to make moves to try and keep the window alive, but it was mostly one predictably bad move after another. May not have mattered anyway, though.
Coach Bud and Malone are both really not that great of coaches to be honest. Are they better than doc Rivers the jury’s out at this point they’re about the same. Both have underachieved in the situations with the players that they’ve had. Same with doc Rivers. Like Michael Malone Bud was about to be fired when they won the championship that year and if it wasn’t for the two on the line he would have never even won. Shout out to them cuz they both won a championship but the Bucks biggest problem was not committing to moving Giannis a year and a half ago. Especially when Dame went down. That should have been the enf of the championship try. They should have went to him and said we’re going to try to rebuild and if you want to be a part of that it’ll be accelerated sort of like what the Lakers did with Kobe but continuing to add his brothers on a team and make stupid trades to try to stay competitive is what killed this team completely
The worst part that people forget is that during his final playoff run coaching the Bucks his brother died. It’s amazing people didn’t think that might impact his coaching.
Adrian Griffin was 30-13 as Bicks HC before Doc stole his job
Avery Johnson was the winningest coach in NBA history when he was fired. Same for David Blatt.
Good record doesn’t mean good coach.
Neither Johnson or Blatt was the winningestestest coach in NBA history, at no point, ever did either lead the NBA in most Career Coaching victories.
Beyond that idiocracy, this was more of a statement about how the Bucks fell apart after firing the inexperienced Griffin and hiring the much overrated Rivers.
Avery Johnson had the highest win percentage in NBA history for his first two seasons IIRC.
Which is obviously applicable when people are discussing a 30-13 coach.
The Bucks didn’t “fall apart” after the Griffin firing, more like the signs were already there and they played well over their heads (easy schedule + shooting luck + injuries afterwards).
His defense / gameplan was a mess and thats why nobody else has considered him since.
Is this Doc Rivers burner account? You seriously think Avery Johnson and David Blatt are the winningest coaches in NBA history? You are worse than Al not understanding non-guaranteed contracts.
Congrats on being obtuse about highest winning percentage, which I clearly stated in my follow-up.
It should be common sense that I was not inferring coaches with 2-3 years of experience do not have the most All-Time Wins. But then I guess there are some special cases here.
Avery Johnson was the winningest coach in NBA history when he was fired. Same for David Blatt.
Those are your words not mine. Look at that statement closely. Re-read it. Think about it. You said that. Its okay to admit it was a bad take.
“Those are your words not mine. Look at that statement closely. Re-read it. Think about it. You said that. Its okay to admit it was a bad take.”
It wasn’t a take. I provided clarification which you have willfully ignored because your fragile ego needs it’s daily dose of faux superiority.
@Real 2K Insider
Not exactly true, except for the 1st 2 seasons qualifier.
The Mavs were 60-22 and 67-15 in his 1st 2 seasons with Avery.
Phil Jackson was 72-10 and 69-13 with the Bulls in the 1st 2 seasons of the 2nd Bulls 3peat.
Phil Jackson didn’t have those seasons in his first two years. Johnson had a higher career win% at that point.
Joe Mazzulla is the all-time leader right now (72%). Griffin is 4th at 70%. Those two couldn’t be more different as coaches.
Mazzulla would be looking at a mega deal if he hit the open market, whereas nobody wants Griffin.
There’s nothing special about the 2 year cutoff though – in Phil’s 1st 3 years, 183-63 for a win pct of .744 to Avery’s 178-68/.724
He didn’t have that Win% when Avery started coaching.
My overall point that most can understand ATP is Avery Johnson wasn’t an elite coach just because he was winning 70% of his games ala Phil Jackson.
Just like Rick Carsisle isn’t a bad coach because he won 1 more game than Brian Keefe and 5 fewer than Doug Christie.
There is a lot of nuance that the pro-Griffin crowd willfully neglects. Its just a one-dimensional anti-Rivers argument.
And even now, after the disaster Doc has been, Bucks fans have no love lost for Griffin. If you read up on the behind-the-scenes stuff, it’s clear he had no business being an NBA head coach and he’ll never be one again. Virtually unheard of that players want a new head coach gone less than halfway into an otherwise successful first season (record wise, thanks to some helpful scheduling) and there are reasons for that.
Avery was fired because his team choked against the 8th seed and was completely outcoached.
Blatt was fired because he wouldn’t kiss LeBron’s a$$ and actually wanted to coach.
….and they hired Tyronn Lue and won a championship.
Whereas David Blatt never coached in the NBA again. For ANY franchise, not just one with LeBron.
Again, there are reasons why some of these guys never got second chances despite elevated W/L records.
Mark Jackson is maybe the most prominent example. And I can see a few peons in this thread stanning hard for him.
Just because Doc Rivers was a bad coach doesn’t make Adrian Griffin a good coach. Both did a bad job, one just has a record that suggests otherwise.
Lue had nothing to do with Irving and Love being healthy and Green getting suspended.
And the league fouling out the MVP for the only time in Finals history, and then the refs ignoring all contact on Steph and Klay in game 7, resulting in 1 FTA on 36 FGAs after they had averaged 9 in the prior 6 games.
RIGGED
Ok genius, then what does it mean to be a good coach then??
“Ok genius, then what does it mean to be a good coach then?”
Being a good coach. There’s more to it than W/L record. It’s the PROCESS behind it. Notbonly have I already dove into some of this, you have people throughout this thread explaining why they think Rivers sucks despite his winning record.
Erik Spoelstra is one of the league’s best coaches and yet his team has been in the Play-In the last 5 years or whatever its been.
Where would that team be if they employed an incompetent like Doug Christie or Brian Keefe? What about a below average like old Doc Rivers?
Mark Jackson won 50+ games with a generic P&R offense and ran the team like a paranoid lunatic. Steve Kerr took over, had actual communication skills with the team/management/media, and instituted a dynamic offense that played to his team’s strengths – and a dynasty was formed.
(Yet if you listened to some of the armchair idiots who hang around here he’s the worst coach ever).
Adrian Griffin and his 30-13 record was not some prodigy. The team falling off under Doc would have happened to him (and the end results may have even been even worse).
who coulda predicted that? Oh.. me.. and the other 3903930903 who said hiring him for that team was a massive mistake lol
please ! stop the carnage ! ! have a feeling .. one more owner will give doc the keys to wreck his kingdom
Blacklist Rivers and Kerr from ever coaching in the NBA ever again. Literally get anyone else.
The Warriors were getting bounced in the first round before Kerr came lol.
There’s a reason why Mark Jackson has never had another head coaching job.
No there isn’t. Jackson never deserved this and Kerr did nothing to earn it.
Steph Moody Jimmy Dray KP Al is winning 50+ if healthy and had a coach who wants to win
Lol. Bet.
Isn’t it boring to post the same BS about Kerr a 1000 Times while anybody Else Thinks he might be a good coach for winning all These championships?
If you want to blame anybody Look for the guys who drafted Wiseman, Kumminga and Moody.
They could have drafted real players or traded the picks for enough veteran help to secure at least one more championship
Doc just always gets the grief. He should go be an assistant for a building young team. And make his mark behind the scenes lols. Go help New Orleans get back to winning Doc. Joe needs you there.
Might be the most overrated coach of all time.
Still living off of that championship from 20 years ago, where he did everything in his power to choke against a young Hawk’s team in the first round.
I wonder if this signals the beginning of a rebuild and Sox wanted no part of it or if this was done to try and appease Giannis again in hopes he’ll stay?
Yep, I think it’s the latter. Ownership really trying their hardest to keep Giannis in Milwaukee..But he’d be better off on a real contender instead.
“Milwaukee will always mean a lot to me, and this chapter will hold a special place in my bank account.”
Fixed it.
27 years and only 64 games over .500
Talk about smoke & mirroring a career…
all the way to the Hall! sheesh
Rivers was much better earlier in his career. The older coaches get its probably harder to adapt to change as well as maintain the requusite enthusiasm and energy.
The last few years of Popovich’s career were nowhere close to his prime years, he was probably a below average coach (below Top 15) by the very end.
The MIL FO was presumptively inept from the point of Bud’s firing. It was a 2k decision, or so it appeared. The arguments to the contrary (particularly those relying on Giannis wanting a change), while not entirely silly, were not convincing. In any event, ousting Griffin for Doc eliminated all doubt. Two decisions in less than a year that only a 2k’er could love.
Hard to fault Doc for the end result in this gig or his prior ones. He was never much of a coach, and never much cared. At his best, he was a celebrity level babysitter, with his own often entertaining brand. If anyone hiring him expected differently, paricularly after the LAC and PHI stints, that’s on them.
Bye.