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Beyond a pair of double doors inside the lower-level bowl of Fiserv Forum, a hallway leads to the Bucks locker room. Following the signing of his maximum contract extension in the winter of 2020, it was adorned with Antetokounmpo’s Nike logo, an interlocking “GA." At the start of the 2024-25 season, Rivers’ first full campaign as head coach, the “GA” was removed. Instead, the team emblazoned the word “together” in different languages. The English version of the word was misspelled.
On its own, a graphic error is not much. Having a $90,000 golf simulator for the head coach take over a communal space in the practice facility is not much. Calling some players into a meeting and not others is not much. Bucks players realized these were not isolated incidents, but a pattern with Rivers, and it diminished their comfort and trust. “Guys had trouble with his delivery,” one player said. “The whole ‘I’ve done this before, this is the way’ approach that was preached to us from Doc wasn’t received too well.”
These deals bothered Doc Rivers and other coaches, as they felt the organization had bowed too much to appease their star player. To them, Giannis Antetokounmpo wanted things both ways. “Giannis said so many things,” a former coach said, “It stems from your actions, which is, 'My brothers have to be on this team.' Well then, are you about a championship? 'Cause they’re not only not helping us win a championship, it’s creating dissension.” Jon Horst, meanwhile, appeared to try to appease Rivers with a different preferred player. The Bucks signed Amir Coffey, who began his career under Rivers with the Clippers. The team would cut former draft picks Chris Livingston and Tyler Smith to make room for the veteran.
Doc Rivers and Bill Simmons on Giannis to Miami: Bill: For him, Miami is the one I can’t figure out unless they have other moves. It’s him and Bam and you traded everybody else, where are you going? Doc: And you would’ve traded your closer because Tyler Herro is a closer. Say what you want about him, but he’s a straight up closer. My guess is, that’s where he’s trusting their front office that they have the ability to add more pieces. Those are the talks were not in
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Doc Rivers may have some grudges to settle. The longtime NBA coach appeared on “The Bill Simmons Podcast” following the Knicks’ Game 1 NBA Finals win over the Spurs. And as he praised the Knicks’ team-building, he took the opportunity to criticize some front office executives around the league. “I don’t wanna take shots at anybody, but I will say this. There are a lot of front office guys who can go out and get the stars,” he began. “There’s very few of them that can then build a team into a championship team. That’s what you have to do.” He continued: “You can go out and get these names. But can you make the other moves? You look at Danny Ainge, he’s done it a ton. Brad Stevens has done it, Sam Presti, it took him a while… and he finally kind of figured it out.”
NBA Courtside: Bill Simmons and Doc Rivers think Wemby looked tired and sped up last night: Bill: Wemby looked tired. I don’t know what the answer is. Doc: I texted you in first half and said Wemby looks sped up tonight. I think he had 6 or 7 turnovers Bill. A lot of them were putting the ball on the floor. (Via @BillSimmons).
NBA Courtside: Doc Rivers says NBA players practice flopping: “Everyone flops around now…. It’s not taught, players work on it. But it’s not taught really. The players just work on it. I thought Brunson flopped and Karl Anthony Towns flopped every bit as much as Wemby did”.
Milwaukee Bucks center Myles Turner revealed on his podcast with New York Liberty forward Breanna Stewart that former Bucks head coach Doc Rivers “didn't fine anybody ever” this past season, and that superstar forward Giannis Antetokounmpo was the teammate who was most likely to be late for team events. “Guys were late all the time,” Turner told Stewart on a new episode of “Game Recognize Game” that was released Thursday. “Guys were showing up to film whenever they wanted to show up. Guys were missing meetings. It was one of the craziest things I personally ever experienced.”
Antetokounmpo reportedly had one foot in and one foot out this season with the Bucks. That comes to mind when listening to Turner’s podcast comments. “If the plane took off at 2 o'clock, we weren't leaving till 4:30,” said Turner, who left the Pacers last offseason to sign a four-year deal worth more than $100 million with Milwaukee after it waived Damian Lillard. Turner continued: “I'm being so serious, bro. It was crazy, dawg. Guys were an hour late to the plane. It got to the point where I knew not to show up until an hour after they said the plane was taking off. It was crazy.” When Stewart asked Turner which teammate was most likely to be late, he didn’t have to do much thinking. “Oh, that's easy,” he said. “Giannis. Giannis is going to show up whenever he wants, really. I think that this kind of just came with the territory that — and once I saw it was going down, I was like, 'Hey man, s***, more power to you. They ain't going to fine you. S***, do what you do.’”
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Austin Rivers: I didn't get in the league because of my dad. And I didn't stay in the league because of my dad. Now, do I get to be a part of a team and an opportunity with a with a staff that believed in me and a coach that I knew I could play freely for? Absolutely, man. That's why I came back. That's why when Portland offered me 40 million, that's why when Phil Jackson was trying to explain the goddamn Triangle offense in my living room, I didn't go to New York. I went back to LA to get that bag so I could go play for my pops and I could play freely and be myself, which I actually ended up doing pretty f*cking solid as a role player under Chris Paul and Jamal Crawford.
In the end, Thomas managed just 15.6 points in an injury-marred campaign and got waived by Brooklyn. He got picked up by Milwaukee, but cut loose there as well. While he flashed the ability to get buckets, his shortcomings in terms of defense, playmaking, and — ultimately — self-awareness see him now unemployed. “I know he was frustrated about the contract the year before, and the fact that Brooklyn didn’t really pay him how he wanted,” Porter said. “He’s thinking talent-wise, he’s thinking as good as Austin Reaves, he’s as good as Jalen Green, he’s as good as this guy or that guy, and they’re getting paid $100 million contracts. So I understand that part. But I knew when he left Brooklyn, I’m like, man, over there in Milwaukee he better change a couple of these things or else it’s going to be tough for him. “And when he first got there, they were raving about him because he had a few good games. Doc Rivers was complimenting him and everything. And then I’m sure he had a bad game and kind of went back into his shell a little bit. It can come off like he has an attitude, but really that’s just him. And then I think from there it was downhill. But when it comes to being a basketball player and a talent, he’s up there with the best of them.”
League sources say Rondo has been interviewed for the post after serving as a special assistant on Doc Rivers' Milwaukee staff. Rondo is said to have felt his first coaching itch while recovering from a torn ACL as a Celtic, prompting Brad Stevens to bring him into staff meetings.
The Bucks announced Rivers’ departure in an April 13 statement. Milwaukee will pay Rivers his eight-figure salary for the 2026-27 season, sources told ESPN. The recently named Naismith Hall of Fame coach told Andscape it was “100 percent my decision” to leave. Rivers had a 97-103 record during his two-plus seasons with Milwaukee, leading to two first-round playoff exits and missing the postseason this season. The Bucks won the 2024 NBA Cup under Rivers, but they had a 32-50 record this season, with All-Star forward Giannis Antetokounmpo playing just 36 games. “It wasn’t a hard decision. It’s probably on your mind your last couple years,” Rivers said. “It had nothing to do with the season or anything like that. There’s times where you feel like you’ve had your run. I still love it. I still love coaching. But I don’t ever want my job to become work. I guess that is the best way of saying that. It’s more of a labor of love. So, I just felt like it was time. It was not like some lightning strike or something like that. I told ownership that a while ago.
