Doc Rivers Makes Announcement About NBA Coaching Future

Any NBA teams with imminent head coaching vacancies can go ahead and cross Doc Rivers’ name off their lists.

On Friday’s episode of “The Bill Simmons Podcast,” Simmons welcomed Rivers and let him enjoy 70 minutes of general NBA talk before saying, “Alright, we’ve come to the point where we have to talk about the Bucks’ season.” It was met by a hilarious “oh lord” from Rivers.

The Milwaukee Bucks finished 32-50, their worst record since going 31-35 during the shortened 2011-12 season, and missed the playoffs for the first time since 2016. The whole season was marred by Giannis Antetokounmpo trade rumors, and it was Antetokounmpo’s most injury-riddled season of his career. The Bucks parted ways with Rivers last week.

Simmons said the Bucks’ slog of a season “seemed horrible from afar.” Rivers offered, “It wasn’t, but it could have been,” and admitted that “the whole Giannis stuff, it was just not a lot of fun.” Rivers said what was happening within the Bucks and what was reported about Antetokounmpo externally were “two different worlds.”

Eventually, Simmons asked whether Rivers’ departure from the Bucks marked the end of his NBA coaching career. Rivers did not hesitate: “Yeah, yeah,” Rivers said.

“We met about seven weeks ago, me and ownership, we had a great meeting,” Rivers continued. “That’s why we’re all on the same page. They asked me what I wanted to do. One of the owners said one plan is if we do this, you can hang in there for a year or two, and I literally said, ‘Oh, no, no, no.’ I was matter-of-fact. I told my coaches, I’m done. I loved coaching. Loved it. I had a lot of success at it. I had way more ups than downs.”

Rivers said he would consider joining a front office and helping run a team, but his short-term plan is to take a break. ESPN’s Shams Charania reported last week that the Bucks and Rivers were “discussing whether he will move to an advisory role in the organization.”

Rivers went 97-103 across three seasons as head coach of the Bucks. Overall, Rivers logged 27 seasons and went 1,194-866 as an NBA head coach. In his first year as head coach of the Orlando Magic in the 1999-2000 season, he won Coach of the Year. Rivers’ lone championship came with the Boston Celtics in 2008.

Earlier this month, Rivers was named to the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame Class of 2026. The enshrinement is scheduled for Aug. 15.

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This story was originally published April 17, 2026 at 10:06 PM.