If fans didn’t want Doc Rivers gone already, his latest outrageous comment, which has nothing to do directly with the Milwaukee Bucks, might be the final straw. Ahead of Tuesday’s match in Philadelphia, where Rivers coached from 2020-21 to ’22-23, he was asked to reflect on Joel Embiid’s first somewhat healthy season in three years. His answer didn’t fall favorably on the ears of Bucks fans.
Rivers issues strong statement on superstar he coached before Giannis Antetokounmpo
“You know, I was telling a very, very, very Hall of Fame player that I coached that Joel is the most talented player that I ever coached,” Rivers recounted. “And he was like, ‘What?'”
A lot of Bucks fans were, too, when they heard that those words came out of their head coach’s mouth. In Milwaukee, where Rivers took over midway through the ’23-24 campaign, he has at his disposal the two-time MVP and perennial top-five candidate Giannis Antetokounmpo. A super-athlete of the type that comes around once a generation, watching Giannis dominate a basketball floor is like witnessing Shaquille O’Neale if he had a handle and a point guard’s floor vision.
Until this season, one of Antetokounmpo’s strengths had been his durability. While injuries have bitten him in the playoffs, Giannis has never played fewer than 61 games in a season.
Oct 26, 2023; Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA; Milwaukee Bucks forward Giannis Antetokounmpo (34) looks to shoot agasint Philadelphia 76ers center Joel Embiid (21) during the second quarter at Fiserv Forum. Mandatory Credit: Jeff Hanisch-USA TODAY Sports
Since winning his own MVP in Rivers’ last season with the 76ers, Embiid’s poor health has been one of the NBA’s greatest tragedies. Embiid followed up his MVP campaign with an even better first half in ’23-24 before he sustained a season-ending knee injury. He looked like a shell of himself in 19 games last season and will probably never return to his peak.
This year, however, he’s back to looking like an All-NBA talent whenever he does take the floor. And true, he has or had, in his prime, skills that Giannis clearly lacks. A smooth three-point shot, a silky fadeaway, soft touch from everywhere inside the arc and, of course, an elite free-throw rate.
“I was like, ‘He is,'” Rivers resumed the anecdote involving his incredulous ex-player. “You know, the things that you guys see, and then the things you actually don’t see in practice, sometimes, that he can do, it’s incredible. It really is.”
Simply put, Embiid and Giannis operate on different wave lengths. In its purest, more potent distillation, Giannis’ game is predicated on bowling over defenders like a human wrecking ball, swallowing the entire space inside the arc with his irresistible gravity.
Jan 21, 2026; Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA; Milwaukee Bucks forward Giannis Antetokounmpo (34) drives to the basket against Oklahoma City Thunder center/forward Chet Holmgren (7) in the first half at Fiserv Forum. Mandatory Credit: Michael McLoone-Imagn Images
It’s fair to argue that in his prime, Embiid was the better player. Objectively, that’s likely true. But Giannis is the more valuable player now, and has been throughout his career simply because he plays at an MVP level while also being available.
It’s also true that you just don’t come out and say things like that when you’re coaching an MVP-level talent on your own team. Your own, current team.
But Rivers can’t seem to shake his awe of Embiid, to whose ascent he had a front-row seat in that three-year window in Philadelphia. “Unfortunately for me, I never had him healthy once in the playoffs. … It’s always going to come down to that,” Rivers said of Embiid’s end-season health. “And nothing’s changed.”
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