Ranking Top 5 Available NBA Head Coaches After Doc Rivers, Milwaukee Bucks Split

The Milwaukee Bucks' ignominious Doc Rivers era is over.

He went 32-50 in 2025-26. And after two seasons and change, the Bucks are moving on.

At 64 years old and after nearly three decades as an NBA head coach, there's certainly a chance Doc Rivers will hang it up. He already seemed ready to enter the media landscape before the Bucks hired him in the middle of the 2023-24 campaign.

But if he wants to stay on the bench a little longer, he'll get some looks from teams in need of a new voice.

He now joins a sure-to-deepen pool of available coaches we have ranked below.

5. Doc Rivers

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Of course, at a certain point, the game simply passes some coaches by. And Rivers may be there.

Various injuries for Giannis contributed to the way-below-.500 record, but the Bucks' attack lacked inventiveness, and the defense often looked woefully uninspired.

Still, experience counts for a lot. Over the years, Rivers has had his fair share of strong relationships with star players, too.

Rivers might not be eager to sign up for this, but if a team took some of the formation of his staff out of his hands and put more modern, forward-thinking assistants around him, it might be able to get the pluses of bringing him in while neutralizing the potential negatives.

4. Chris Quinn

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Former point guard Chris Quinn has now been with the Miami Heat for over a decade. Over the last few years, he's been an "associate head coach."

And on more than one occasion, the only higher-ranked man on that bench has spoken positively about his No. 2.

Earlier this season, Erik Spoelstra credited Quinn for an inbound play he called "CQ" that won the Heat a game at the last second. Spoelstra's described Quinn as "instrumental" and a "major part" of what Miami does. And last offseason, he said that he thought he'd one day be a coach when coached Quinn as a player.

All of the above is a ringing endorsement from one of the greatest coaches of all time for a longtime assistant who's been interviewed for multiple head-coaching vacancies over the years.

3. Mike Budenholzer

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Mike Budenholzer needs to get his hands on a slightly less dysfunctional team situation than the last couple he's had.

The Phoenix Suns' "big three" of Kevin Durant, Devin Booker and Bradley Beal couldn't have fit together much worse. And the one-on-one specialists played like they were personally offended by Budenholzer's desire for a system with plenty of ball and player movement.

Before that, he was part of the perennially tenuous situation between Giannis and the Bucks, one that pushed the organization into several desperation moves that quickly backfired (including the decision to replace Budenholzer with Adrian Griffin).

On a team with heady players who are willing to pass, move and generally play without much ego, we could get another run from Bud like the one he had with the Atlanta Hawks years ago.

That 2014-15 team that won 60 games captured some of the magic of the San Antonio Spurs teams on which Budenholzer was an assistant. And that magic is a product of time-tested basketball principles that work on all levels.

2. Tom Thibodeau

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Tom Thibodeau's style isn't for everyone. It's gruff. In terms of minutes and workload, he demands a lot of his stars. And his focus on defense has contributed to some of his teams underwhelming on the other end.

But it's hard to argue with the results.

If Thibs is your coach, the baseline is competitiveness. He's coached three different teams and several different star players, and he won at each spot.

His career record is 578-420, and his teams have played at (or better than) a .500 pace five different teams.

For teams that already have well-established stars that just need a change of direction from the bench, Thibodeau may well be the guy.

1. Taylor Jenkins

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It's still a little surprising that the Memphis Grizzlies moved on from Taylor Jenkins the way they did.

He's only 41 years old. He has six seasons of experience as a head coach. He has a winning record, and he topped 50 wins twice.

But, like Budenholzer with Milwaukee and Phoenix, he was at the head of a team with a mercurial star. And that partnership between Jenkins and Ja Morant may have simply hit a breaking point.

Memphis' dysfunction could ultimately prove to be some other organization's gain.

With the Grizzlies, Jenkins cultivated an offensive system that emphasized ball movement and required players to read and react to opposing defenses. He motivated his teams to play hard on the defensive end. And his player development chops were a big part of the organization consistently "hitting" on draft picks.

Whether a team is ready to win now or just starting a rebuild, Jenkins would make sense for just about anyone looking for a coach.