Rumors

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.

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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.

Andscape

“I’m 64 with kids, grandkids. And I’m not like a lot of the other coaches. A lot of the other coaches, when they get fired, they’re off a year or two years. I’ve never had that. I’ve [coached] for basically 26 straight years. So that’s what I was thinking: ‘Man, when am I going to start enjoying things?’ I still want to be in the game and do something. I don’t even know where that goes. But I just thought it was time. This was my decision. It was 100 percent my decision.” Rivers ranks sixth all-time in career coaching victories (1,194). The 2000 NBA Coach of the Year led the Celtics to a championship in 2008 and an NBA Finals appearance in 2010. He was named one of the 15 greatest coaches in NBA history in 2022 by a panel of 43 current and former NBA head coaches in collaboration with the National Basketball Coaches Association. He has amassed 114 NBA playoff wins, fourth-most all-time.  If Rivers has indeed coached his last game, it was the Bucks’ 126-106 road loss to one of his former teams, the 76ers, on April 12. Rivers said Bucks ownership and the front office knew of his decision before the game. Rivers said 76ers guard Tyrese Maxey, whom he coached in Philadelphia, had received a tip that the end was near and offered him well wishes prior to the game. In hindsight, Rivers wishes he had told the Bucks players he was leaving.

Andscape

“The Bucks [ownership and executives] knew because obviously we had told them,” Rivers said. “But the [cameraman] during the national anthem, the guy just stood there the whole time [in front of me]. It was tough getting through that. Tyrese knew on the other team. That’s why he came over before the game because my son, Spencer, told him. But it was cool. “I didn’t want to tell the players anything, and I probably should have. After the game, I should have said something. As I always say, ‘You don’t get everything right.’ I didn’t go in the locker room after we won the title [in Boston]. You make decisions. I may be the only coach in the history of sports that did not go into the locker room after you win the NBA title. When you see all the champagne, there’s no me in there.”

Andscape

The Ringer: "I think it was time." @BillSimmons asks Doc Rivers if he believes he's done with coaching after stepping down as head coach of the Bucks.

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Doc Rivers on Giannis Antetokounmpo trade rumors: The whole Giannis stuff, it just wasn’t a whole lot of fun. It just wasn’t. When you’re around Giannis, and then what you hear out the outside, it was two different worlds…. I don’t think Giannis knows if he wants to stay or not. I also don’t know if the organization knows one way or not either.

The Ringer

Myles Turner: So, it’ll be a very interesting offseason. I don’t have any idea what’s going to happen. These exit meetings are going to be interesting. I literally have no idea the direction of our team — even if Doc will be here next year, if Giannis will be here next year, what our ownership is doing. So, I’m literally just kind of floating right now.”

YouTube

Myles Turner: “Listen, man, I don’t know who Shams’ source was. I’ll come out and say it right now: I was not the snitch. I was not the mole. I don’t know who was, but a lot of stuff in that ESPN article came out very accurate. I think someone had to have had a tape recording at this point, because a lot of what was said was actually to a T. Yeah, we had a really rough game in Chicago. We had like a 20-point lead and pissed it away in the fourth quarter, which is a really bad point in the season for us. We were in a very must-win mode, and we had a game against Boston the next day. Doc kind of came in and was like, ‘Listen, I heard y’all been talking shit, so let me talk my shit too. I’ve taken teams that are less talented than this to the playoffs,’ and whatnot. He basically said, ‘I thought this was the team to do that.’

YouTube

Myles Turner: So, I think it was a way of trying to fire us up, but in a room full of ego, he kind of came with the whole ‘Google me’ thing, and I don’t think it went over as well as he might have thought it would. And again, it was a little unoriginal too, because the guy from Indiana, the coach, had just done that. It was a cringe moment for everybody at that time, because we were all kind of looking around like, ‘All right, guys. Well, I guess let’s go beat Boston now.’ You know what I mean? It was tough.”

YouTube

“What are the next steps now that the season’s over? Do you give him space? He goes back to Greece? What’s the group chat like? What are the details? Because it’s been exhausting all season long talking about this.” Bobby Portis: “To be honest, I don’t really know the direction, for real. To be honest, it’s more so: are they going to work with him to find a new coach? If they’re working with him to find a new coach, then I would say he stays. You know what I’m saying? If they’re not working with him to find a new coach, then, obviously, I think it goes the other way around. So, I think we’ll just find out here soon.”

YouTube

Charania had the following response today and took a shot at the state of the Bucks on the Pat McAfee Show: “The reality of everything in Milwaukee is this, if they spent as much time dealing with their own internal dynamics and problems as they do with responding to accurate reports, they wouldn’t be in the mess that they’re in right now. I’m doing the job at the highest of levels I possibly can. I got one more for you. I watch documentaries from time to time. I saw one on Fyre Festival. The part we’re at now is when everyone wants to go and you’re doing the cover up. It’s totally fine. I’m just here to document and cover it the right way.”

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“I got one more for you. I’ve been watching documentaries from time to time, I saw one on Fyre Festival, and so the part we’re at right now is everyone wants to run and you’re doing the cover-up,” Charania added. “Again, it’s totally fine, I’m just here to document and cover it the right way. I feel like we’ve done an unbelievable job tracking everything. At the end of the day, the last month and a half we’ve seen it.”

New York Post

Tim Reynolds: Bucks announce that Doc Rivers has formally stepped down.

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Fullcourtpass: Giannis Antetokounmpo and Doc Rivers walking back to the Bucks locker room after the last game of the season (Via @JClarkNBCS, h/t @CourtsideBuzzX)

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