{"id":592494,"date":"2026-04-08T02:18:08","date_gmt":"2026-04-08T02:18:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/592494\/"},"modified":"2026-04-08T02:18:08","modified_gmt":"2026-04-08T02:18:08","slug":"bucks-doc-rivers-indicates-he-could-step-away-from-coaching-soon-i-have-grandkids-that-i-want-to-see","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/592494\/","title":{"rendered":"Bucks’ Doc Rivers indicates he could step away from coaching soon: ‘I have grandkids that I want to see’"},"content":{"rendered":"

Between the drama surrounding Giannis Antetokounmpo<\/a> and the most losing the Bucks have suffered in 10 years, it\u2019s been a season to forget in Milwaukee, and it could be the last one before Doc Rivers steps away from coaching.<\/p>\n

Ahead of a road game against the Brooklyn Nets, Rivers was asked Tuesday how much longer he wants to coach in the league.<\/p>\n

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\u201cI won\u2019t answer that,\u201d the 64-year-old head coach said, via NBA insider Michael Scotto<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut I have grandkids that I want to see. I\u2019ll put it that way. And, so, I\u2019ll let you figure it out from there. I have seven grandkids now, and they\u2019re all 8 years and under. And it kills me every time I miss \u2018Grandparents\u2019 Day\u2019 with each one of them in school. It\u2019s probably time to go see them more.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rivers reiterated: \u201cI\u2019ll let you figure out the rest.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rivers will be inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame<\/a> in August. After playing 13 years in the NBA, the one-time All-Star point guard\u2019s run as a head coach in the league began in 1999 with the Orlando Magic.<\/p>\n

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He coached the Magic from 1999-2003; the Boston Celtics from 2004-13 \u2014 famously leading the trio of Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce and Ray Allen to an NBA title in 2008 \u2014 the Los Angeles Clippers from 2013-20, including during the \u201cLob City\u201d era; the Philadelphia 76ers from 2020-23; and now he\u2019s finishing up his third season with the Bucks amid a disappointing stint that started with him taking over for Adrian Griffin midway through the 2023-24 campaign<\/a>.<\/p>\n

While Milwaukee made the playoffs last season for the ninth year in a row, it got knocked out in the first round for the third consecutive postseason. Rivers hasn\u2019t taken a team to the NBA Finals since 2010, and this year his Bucks won\u2019t even make the play-in tournament.<\/p>\n

The euphoria the franchise\u2019s 2021 NBA championship delivered feels distant, especially considering that Antetokounmpo\u2019s days in Milwaukee appear numbered. Reports have detailed an organizational disconnect<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The Bucks and the two-time NBA MVP have notably been in a standoff over his current health. Milwaukee reportedly has been in favor of shutting down an injury-plagued Antetokounmpo for the season \u2014 he hasn\u2019t been on the court since March 15 \u2014 whereas Antetokounmpo reportedly has wanted to keep playing<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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When expressing his frustration last week, the 10-time All-Star forward welcomed the NBA\u2019s investigation into the matter. That investigation, though, has raised more questions<\/a> about Antetokounmpo, his hyperextended left knee and bone bruise and the Bucks\u2019 return-to-play process.<\/p>\n

Back in March, when the NBA Players Association criticized the Bucks for sitting Antetokounmpo and accused the team of anti-competitive behavior<\/a>, Rivers said that Antetokounmpo was simply \u201cnot healthy.\u201d<\/p>\n

But as ESPN\u2019s Shams Charania reported on Tuesday, there have been significant moments this season when Rivers and his players haven\u2019t been in sync.<\/p>\n

\u201c\u2026 On March 1, they lost in Chicago. A double-digit lead, and it ended up being a blowout defeat,\u201d Charania explained on \u201cNBA Today.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThen comes March 2. It was a [second] game of a back-to-back against the Boston Celtics. Doc Rivers called for a team meeting that day. And the day of the game, this team meeting, my understanding is in that meeting, Doc Rivers implored his team, according to six people in the room, to \u2018look at my r\u00e9sum\u00e9\u2019 and \u2018Google me.’<\/p>\n

\u2018I took teams to the playoffs and championship that weren’t supposed to be there. I thought this was one of them.’\u201c<\/p>\n

Charania added: \u201cThat was not well received internally. And that was just another example of the disconnect between player and coach. \u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

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Longtime NBA insider Marc Stein recently reported<\/a> that there\u2019s growing anticipation among league coaching circles that this will be Rivers\u2019 final season on the Bucks\u2019 bench.<\/p>\n

Rivers\u2019 pregame comments Tuesday don\u2019t seem to suggest otherwise.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Between the drama surrounding Giannis Antetokounmpo and the most losing the Bucks have suffered in 10 years, it\u2019s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":592495,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[557],"tags":[64,63,1664,5997,5127,133491,7228,13796,7236,187552,5130,4620,590,12985,11474,289290,18419,85,61731],"class_list":{"0":"post-592494","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nba","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-boston-celtics","11":"tag-brooklyn-nets","12":"tag-chicago","13":"tag-doc-rivers","14":"tag-giannis-antetokounmpo","15":"tag-kevin-garnett","16":"tag-los-angeles-clippers","17":"tag-michael-scotto","18":"tag-milwaukee","19":"tag-milwaukee-bucks","20":"tag-nba","21":"tag-orlando-magic","22":"tag-paul-pierce","23":"tag-ray-allen","24":"tag-shams-charania","25":"tag-sports","26":"tag-the-bucks"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/592494","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=592494"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/592494\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/592495"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=592494"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=592494"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=592494"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}