Doc Rivers Leaves Milwaukee Bucks After Three Seasons
Quick Reads
- Doc Rivers has departed as head coach of the Milwaukee Bucks.
- Milwaukee finished the 2025–26 season with a 30–52 record, missing the playoffs entirely.
- Rivers posted a 97–103 record across three seasons with the franchise, suffering two first-round playoff exits.
- The Bucks will pay Rivers his eight-figure salary for the 2026–27 season, with discussions ongoing about an advisory role.
- Milwaukee now begins its third head coaching search in three years.
Doc Rivers Leaves Milwaukee Bucks After Three Disappointing Seasons
Doc Rivers is no longer the head coach of the Milwaukee Bucks. The Doc Rivers Bucks exit marks the end of a turbulent tenure that failed to meet championship expectations. Rivers, 64, went 97–103 across two and a half seasons at the helm in Milwaukee. The Bucks now face a massive offseason with major questions at every level of the organisation.
A Tenure That Never Gained Traction
Rivers joined the Bucks in the middle of the 2023–24 season, replacing rookie head coach Adrian Griffin abruptly. At the time, Milwaukee was 31–14 under Griffin. The switch did not deliver the results ownership had hoped for.
Rivers guided the Bucks to a 17–19 record for the remainder of that first season. He then went 48–34 in 2024–25. But the team never went deep in the playoffs. Injuries struck his top players in each season he was in charge.
A season-long disconnect between Rivers and the players, including incidents that frustrated the locker room. That tension never eased.
Doc Rivers Leaves Milwaukee Bucks With No Playoff Series Win
Rivers’s championship experience could not push Milwaukee past the first round of the 2024 playoffs, with Giannis Antetokounmpo battling a calf strain. The following year, injuries to Damian Lillard derailed another run. The team was eliminated in the first round of the 2025 playoffs too.
This season was the worst of all. Antetokounmpo was available for just 36 games in 2025–26. The Bucks crumbled without him. They snapped a nine-season consecutive playoff streak this year and have not won a playoff series since 2022.
Rivers leaves without a single postseason series victory in Milwaukee.
What Comes Next for Milwaukee
The Bucks are now on their third head coaching search in three years. The task is not simple. The relationship between Antetokounmpo and the organisation appears strained, with trade rumours dominating the final weeks of the season.
If Antetokounmpo departs, the Bucks will need to build a new identity. They have limited draft capital after years of competing around their homegrown superstar. Whoever takes the job will walk into one of the most complex situations in the NBA.
Rivers, meanwhile, is set to be inducted into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame as part of the Class of 2026. He has also hinted at retirement, saying he would like to spend more time with his grandchildren. Whether his sideline career is fully over remains to be seen.
By the Numbers
Milwaukee’s final record in 2025–26: 30–52. Rivers’s overall Bucks record: 97–103. Giannis Antetokounmpo appearances this season: 36. Rivers ranks sixth all-time among NBA coaches in regular-season wins and fourth all-time in career playoff victories. Last Bucks playoff series win: 2022. Last Bucks championship: 2021, under Mike Budenholzer.
