The Milwaukee Bucks are now 17-24 on the season following their 119-101 loss to the San Antonio Spurs on Thursday night. It was their third loss in a row and their fourth in the last five games. Over their last 10 games, Milwaukee is just 5-5. Now, as the season nears the midway point, they are two games behind the Atlanta Hawks for the 10th and final spot in the Eastern Conference playoff picture.
For most (if not all) of the season, and dating back to last year, Bucks fans have expressed their frustration with head coach Doc Rivers and his apparent inability to properly rotate his players, game plan, or make in-game adjustments.
But the comments made by Kyle Kuzma after this latest loss may point to an even deeper and more worrisome issue.
Kyle Kuzma did not know Doc Rivers’ game plan for the Milwaukee Bucks
Jan 15, 2026; San Antonio, Texas, USA; Milwaukee Bucks forward Kyle Kuzma (18) warms up before the game against the San Antonio Spurs at Frost Bank Center. Mandatory Credit: Daniel Dunn-Imagn Images
Kuzma scored 18 points off the bench for the Bucks against the Spurs on Thursday night, a performance which included him taking an unusually high number of three point shots. He was 5/13 from three.
After the game, reporters asked Rivers about Kuzma’s shot selection, as he was taking many shots that Milwaukee typically does not like him to take.
However, Rivers explained that it was all part of the game plan and that he actually encouraged Kuzma to take those shots.
The Bucks’ forward, though, did not know that:
Asked Kyle Kuzma about the “let threes fly” game plan and having a green light on above the break threes tonight.
Kuzma: https://t.co/apwalyyeZX pic.twitter.com/rO2u3ePVJk
— Eric Nehm (@eric_nehm) January 16, 2026
“I didn’t know that was the game plan. I was sick earlier.”
Kuzma had been listed on the Bucks injury report with an illness, though the nature of the illness was not identified. In his comments presented in the post above, he revealed that he had an ear infection.
In other words, Kuzma seems to have not been able to attend the team meeting in which Rivers went over the game plan with the team.
And if what he says was true, no one, not Rivers, not one assistant, not one teammate, told him what the game plan was. And if he was unaware of it, how many others were as well?
Regardless of the answer, if Kuzma was never told what the game plan was, that falls as (yet another) failure on Rivers’ shoulders.
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