NBA
The Bucks missed the playoffs for the first time since 2016.
Doc Rivers will not return as head coach of the Milwaukee Bucks, according to ESPN’s Shams Charania.
Rivers, 64, just wrapped up his third season with the Bucks. Milwaukee went 97-103 during his stint with the franchise. They went 32-50 this season.
The news broke shortly after Milwaukee dropped its season finale against the 76ers.
The Bucks are once again in the market for a head coach. They fired former NBA Coach of the Year Mike Budenholzer in 2023, just two years after he coached the franchise to its first title since 1971.
Adrian Griffin lasted 43 games as interim head coach before Rivers was brought in, going 30-13. The Bucks went 17-19 under Rivers during the remainder of that year.
Now, Rivers is out after Milwaukee missed the playoffs for the first time since 2016. The Bucks had lost in the first round during the previous three-seasons.
The last time they won a playoff series was in 2022, when they eliminated the Bulls before falling to the Celtics in the conference semifinals.
According to the ESPN report, there was a “season-long disconnect” between Rivers and the players. Milwaukee was also without star forward Giannis Antetokunmpo, who played in just 36 games, for the majority of the year.
Rivers had a year left on his contract, and the Bucks will reportedly pay it.
The move comes weeks after Rivers was elected to the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame. He will be enshrined in Springfield in August.
Rivers spent nine seasons with the Celtics and won a title in 2008. He is second behind Red Auerbach on the Celtics’ all-time coaching wins list. He is sixth all time in wins among NBA coaches.
According to The Athletic, Rivers told reporters that Sunday was an emotional day. He did not say whether he plans to keep coaching. His coaching career has more than two decades, with stops in Orlando, Boston, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, and Milwaukee.
“Yeah, in some ways,” Rivers said. “I don’t ever use that R-word (retirement) because you never know. I don’t want to be Ali and keep coming back. But yeah, it is (an emotional day). Kevin Eastman (who served as an assistant coach under Rivers in Boston and Los Angeles), some of my old coaches are here. So, it’s cool.”
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