Not long after the decision to fire Adrian Griffin as the Milwaukee Bucks head coach was made official, reports quickly emerged that former NBA champion head coach Doc Rivers was in serious contention to take over in Milwaukee. The Bucks reportedly want Rivers to be their next head coach and are expected to negotiate a deal with the 62-year-old in the immediate future.
As it turns out, however, the Bucks front office may have planted the Doc Rivers seed long before Griffin’s departure.
RUMOR: Doc Rivers Has Been Consulting for the Milwaukee Bucks
According to a report by Shams Charania, Sam Amick, and Eric Nehm of The Athletic, Rivers has actually been an employee of the Bucks for quite some time now, albeit in an informal capacity. Apparently, the front office had tapped the former Philadelphia 76ers shot-caller to serve as a consultant for Griffin:
“League sources say Doc Rivers, who signed on as an ESPN analyst after getting fired by the Philadelphia 76ers in May 2023, began to serve as an informal consultant to Griffin at the behest of the Bucks,” read the report.
Now that this new piece of information has come to light, it comes as no surprise that Rivers has all of a sudden emerged as the top candidate to replace Griffin now that the latter has been fired.
“One month later, multiple sources briefed on the matter now indicate that Rivers is the serious leader for the now-vacant position and the preferred choice of key stakeholders,” read the report.
A Long Time Coming
The report also indicates that the Bucks arranged a meeting between Griffin and Rivers during the team’s trip to Las Vegas for the NBA In-Season Tournament semifinal. Rivers is currently working as a commentator for ESPN and he was in Vegas to provide coverage for the inaugural tournament. The Bucks reportedly “reached out to Rivers to serve as a veteran coaching voice to help Griffin find a path forward through the season.”
“Per league sources, the organization believed Rivers, a 24-year NBA head coach and NBA champion with the Celtics in 2008, would be able to offer Griffin advice and guidance on how to navigate his first NBA season with high expectations and a championship-caliber team in their Las Vegas session,” read the report.
As it turns out, the Bucks brass appear to have bigger plans for Rivers beyond being Coach Griff’s consultant/mentor.
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