Report: Doc Rivers and Milwaukee Bucks parting ways after 2025-26 season

The Milwaukee Bucks will have a new coach yet again, marking the third coaching search in the last three years. Doc Rivers is departing as head coach following a 32-50 campaign during the 2025-26 season, according to a report from ESPN’s Shams Charania.

Rivers joined Milwaukee in a consulting capacity under head coach Adrian Griffin late in 2023. However, a few weeks later the franchise fired Griffin after 43 games, elevating Rivers to head coach.

He would go on to finish the season 17-19 in his first half season in charge. Things improved a good deal in 2024-25.

Milwaukee went 48-34 under Doc Rivers’ leadership during the 2024-25 campaign. However, the team exited the playoffs in the first round. That began to put the pressure onto Rivers.

This season, the team took a clear step backward. Milwaukee finished 32-50, prompting the change.

Doc Rivers gets into it with Shams Charania

The news of Rivers’ departure in Milwaukee comes just hours after he got into it with Charania, who broke the news of his exit. Rivers went after the ESPN NBA insider and said he wanted Adrian Wojnarowski back in the role. Wojnarowski left the business of being an insider to become the GM of the St. Bonaventure men’s basketball team.

Rivers, who’s trolled Charania this year already, called Charania’s report of an unhappy locker room after a recent game “inaccurate.” In that report, Charania said Rivers reportedly told his players to “look up his résumé” during a team meeting. 

“I took teams to the playoffs and to the championship that weren’t supposed to,” Rivers reportedly said, via Charania. “I thought this was one of them. Either you’re with us or against us. If you’re not playing hard, we’re not playing you anymore. I know everything that goes on in this building.”

When Rivers got wind of that report, he downplayed what actually happened and maintained he and Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo had a good relationship, despite the contrary reports. That’s when he wished Charania would be replaced by his old mentor Wojnarowski.

“We have a great relationship,” Rivers said on FanDuel’s Run It Back. “You know, Shams wrote an article that was so accurate that I don’t have enough time to go into. He talked about a locker room thing, and I was laughing like, yeah, we had a tough locker room day. We lost to the Chicago Bulls with a 20 point lead. I showed clips the next day of guys who were screwing up. That’s what happens in a locker room. You know, the first thing I thought: where’s Woj? I miss Woj so much.”

On3’s Nick Kosko also contributed to this report.