If they could, the Milwaukee Bucks would take back the decision to hire Doc Rivers in a heartbeat. They can’t. Now they’re out of assets, out of contention, and the end of the Giannis Antetokounmpo era feels inevitable.
Would things be any different if they had gone elsewhere after firing Adrian Griffin at 30-13 midway through the 2023-24 season? Maybe not. What’s obvious is that Rivers hasn’t helped delay or evade the current situation. His mismanagement of the team has precipitated it.
Probably, dismissing Griffin was the right decision, if not during the season then afterward. Hiring Rivers was not. What led the Bucks to such a disastrous choice? According to longtime journalist Bill Reiter, GM Jon Horst wasn’t excited about Rivers as a candidate. Simply put, ownership was duped by the craftmanship of an experienced charlatan.
Never a logical choice, Rivers bamboozled his way into favor with franchise ownership
“I know that has been out there but I just want to reiterate, to remind you,” Reiter said on the Reiter Than You podcast. “Adrian Griffin, two years ago, was 30-13 and had the second-best offense in the NBA when they decided to move on from him. And the reason given, the idea, the sales pitch, was ‘Doc Rivers is a championship coach. He’s going to take it to another level.’ But that’s not what he is. He’s a con man. He’s a con artist.”
Jan 11, 2026; Denver, Colorado, USA; Milwaukee Bucks head coach Doc Rivers looks on in the first quarter against the Denver Nuggets at Ball Arena. Mandatory Credit: Isaiah J. Downing-Imagn Images
“Quack Rivers” is a moniker that exists for a reason. Since winning a chip in Boston, Rivers has not taken his team to a Conference Finals in 15 years of coaching. If he remains in place in Milwaukee, the end of this season will likely make a 16th.
As Reiter touches on, the Bucks seemingly fired Griffin based on misgivings about his experience and ability to control and cultivate a championship culture. Perhaps the first-time head coach lacked the savvy to navigate a star-powered roster led by Giannis and Damian Lillard.
Ostensibly, Rivers was brought in to get the Bucks over the postseason hump following a first-round exit the year prior. Regular season success, clearly, was not the issue under Griffin.
Basing the Rivers is like trying to jumpstart a truck engine with a phone charger. The common consensus on Rivers is that he is a floor-raiser, not a ceiling-elevator. And even then, he’s last his fastball when it comes to modern scheme and general basketball theory.
“The game has passed Doc by as it relates to basketball. But the game has never passed him by as it relates to the game within the game: the politics of it.”
Dec 11, 2025; Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA; Milwaukee Bucks head coach Doc Rivers calls a play in the second quarter against the Boston Celtics at Fiserv Forum. Mandatory Credit: Benny Sieu-Imagn Images
Reiter cautions that he can’t cite definitive, Shams Charania-approved reports on Horst’s opinion of the hire (to whatever degree Bucks fans value Shams’ intel). But those with knowledge of the situation have given him an inkling.
“Something that I’ve been told, that has been suggested to me … I have certainly heard that Jon Horst … that he didn’t necessarily want Doc Rivers to be the head coach, but that Doc did a very nice job utilizing him time as a television personality at ESPN to ingratiate himself with the ownership of the Milwaukee Bucks. And that his coup against Adrian Griffin involved Bucks GM Jon Horst, but was also an end around.”
In other words, hoops may have been jumped through, but Rivers had the necessary tricks up his sleeve to smooth over Horst’s possible opposition.
Blame who you want, Reiter says – Horst, team advisors, majority owner Jimmy Haslam – the result is the same. “The reality is, they brought in a cancer. And I told you this was going to happen. They thought Doc Rivers was the solution, he was the problem.”
Many Bucks fans were saying that the day he was hired. Knowing full well they were fooled, now the Milwaukee Bucks just have to live the decision.
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