After a dismal campaign that saw the Bucks finish 30–52, Doc Rivers is stepping down as head coach.
On Sunday, after Milwaukee lost to the 76ers on the final day of the season, ESPN’s Shams Charania reported Rivers was departing as coach. Rivers, 64, took over in the middle of the 2023–24 season and went 97–103 in two and a half seasons.
The veteran head coach has been manning the sideline since 1999 and recently hinted at retirement, stating he’d like to spend more time with his grandchildren. It remains to be seen whether this is officially the end for Rivers’s NBA career but the franchise will definitely have someone new on the sideline next season. Charania reports that Milwaukee and Rivers are still discussing whether he will take on an “advisory role” with the franchise. He confirms that the Bucks will pay the departing coach his “eight-figure salary” for 2026–27.
Rivers will be inducted into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame later in 2026. Milwaukee, meanwhile, is staring down a significant offseason of transition as it hunts for its next coach along with a resolution to the Giannis Antetokounmpo situation.
Doc Rivers releases statement on decision to leave Bucks
On Monday, just over 12 hours after the news was reported that he was on his way out, Rivers released an official statement about his decision to step down.
“I have truly loved my time in Milwaukee,” he said. “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.”
In tandem, the owners of the franchise thanked Rivers for his time with the team.
“It has been an honor to have Doc as our coach and as a leader in our organization and commmunity,” said Bucks owners Wes Edens, Jimmy Haslam, Dee Haslam and Jamie Dinan. “In addition to his impact on the court, we’re thankful for Doc’s class and professionalism during his tenure in Milwuakee.”
Bucks failed to click under Rivers
The way Rivers joined the franchise was messy and that set the tone for his tenure with Milwaukee.
The longtime NBA figure was fired by the 76ers in 2023 and opted to join ESPN as a color commentator for the following season. Instead, he jumped ship halfway through to aburptly replace rookie head coach Adrian Griffin with the Bucks. While Griffin had Milwaukee performing well, there were rumors of discontent in the locker room and ownership opted to pull the plug on the inexperienced leading man, pulling Rivers out of thin air instead. At the time, the team was 31–14.
It was all downhill from there. Rivers’s championship experience couldn’t push Milwaukee past the first round of the ‘24 playoffs with Antetokounmpo battling a calf strain. The team went 48–34 the following season but injuries, this time to Damian Lillard, struck again and they were eliminated in the first round of the ‘25 playoffs, too. That led into this season, where everything fell apart. Antetokounmpo got hurt again and Rivers couldn’t rally the troops to win games despite the absence of his best player; the constant losing fanned the flames of the Giannis trade rumors and that situation wound up dominating headlines in the final weeks of the Bucks’ season.
Rivers will now leave the franchise without a single playoff series win after he was brought in to win a title with the Antetokounmpo-Lillard pairing.
Rivers’s exit precedes massive offseason in Milwaukee
As noted above this will be quite a transformative offseason in Wisconsin.
The relationship between Antetokounmpo and the organization appears broken, perhaps beyond repair. If he does get traded the Bucks will have to find a new identity as they enter into the post-Giannis era, a tall task for a team without much by way of draft picks in the coming years after emptying the war chest several times to compete with their homegrown superstar forward. If he doesn’t get traded whoever replaces Rivers will have to navigate that tricky situation while attempting to win games immediately.
A lot will happen in the next three months that will entirely determine the near and far future of the Bucks’ franchise.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Doc Rivers Stepping Down As Bucks Coach After Dismal Season .
