The Milwaukee Bucks are in the midst of their worst season in over a decade. After having made the NBA Playoffs nine years in a row, Milwaukee is now 26-35 and five games behind the Atlanta Hawks for the 10th seed in the Eastern Conference. Their 131-113 loss to those Hawks on Wednesday night was their fourth consecutive loss as they continue to slide down the standings.
Dating back to last season, and even before it, Bucks fans have been critical of head coach Doc Rivers. As fans will recall, Rivers was hired midway through the 2023-24 NBA season following the dismissal of Adrian Griffin. The Bucks were 30-13 at the time of Griffin’s firing.
After Rivers came on board, Milwaukee went 17-19 the rest of the way that year, and have become one of the biggest embarrassments in the NBA since.
Milwaukee Bucks head coach Doc Rivers expected to retire after this season
Dec 21, 2025; Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA; Milwaukee Bucks head coach Doc Rivers looks on against the Minnesota Timberwolves in the first half at Target Center. Mandatory Credit: Jesse Johnson-Imagn Images
It is understood that Rivers never benefited from having Giannis Antetokounmpo, Damian Lillard, and Khris Middleton all healthy at the same time. But the fact of the matter is that he should not have needed them to put a competitive team on the floor.
Last year, Milwaukee was 48-34, but were swept out of the NBA Playoffs by the Indiana Pacers. This year, they are 26-35 with virtually no hope of making the postseason.
Throughout the last two and a half years, fans have been calling on the organization fire Rivers. His decision last night, for example, to put out a rotation of Cam Thomas, Kyle Kuzma, Pete Nance, Jericho Sims, and Bobby Portis, makes no logical basketball sense.
However, Stephen A. Smith claims that Milwaukee fans will not have to wonder if the Bucks will fire Rivers this off-season. He says that Rivers is going to retire.
During a his Wednesday radio show on Mad Dog Sports Radio, Smith interrupted a caller saying Ja Morant should be traded to the Bucks this off-season to learn from Rivers by saying, “It’s not gonna be Doc Rivers because Doc Rivers is gonna retire at the end of the season. [He] has been coaching for close to 25 years. This is it for him. He’s gonna step away.”
If this is true, it would certainly save the franchise some money as they would not have to pay whatever salary is left on Rivers’ contract.
At the same time, it would also stoke Giannis trade rumors, as many will wonder if he will get a say in who the new head could be, or even if he will want to be a part of Bucks.
Whatever the answer to that is, one thing is certain: the only way the Bucks move forward as an organization is without Rivers as head coach.
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