Doc Rivers Discusses Giannis' Bucks Future, NBA Trade Rumors After Reported Exit as HC

Doc Rivers won't be returning to the Milwaukee Bucks, but he's hoping everything works out for the franchise and superstar Giannis Antetokounmpo.

"I just want to see it end well for him and for the franchise," Rivers told reporters on Sunday after his final game. "They both deserve it. We can't [lose the fact that] Giannis and this franchise won a title together. And to me that should never be lost no matter how this ends up. As I've said, Giannis is a fantastic person. I've been lucky to coach a lot of stars and he's right at the top as far as just good people and I want good people to be taken care of."

As for Rivers, he wasn't quite ready to sum up his coaching career or declare a decision about a potential retirement.

"It's too early to reflect," he told reporters. "Honestly I just want to be known as a good guy at the end of the day, a good parent [who] was able to change [the lives of] some of the players that I've coached. Other than that, there's nothing really for me to talk about. It's too early to talk about."

It remains to be seen if the relationship between Antetokounmpo and the Bucks can be salvaged, with reports they remain at odds over the team's lack of championship prospects, trade rumors swirling for the past year and the superstar's displeasure being shut down late in the season for what were essentially tanking purposes. Antetokounmpo has reportedly indicated to the team he's prepared and ready to be traded.

Ultimately, the Bucks abstained from dealing him both over the summer and ahead of February's trade deadline. But a divorce feels inevitable.

As for Rivers, it remains to be seen if he'll retire or seek other coaching opportunities. It isn't a foregone conclusion that he'll leave the Bucks entirely—ESPN's Shams Charania reported Sunday that the team will "pay Rivers his eight-figure salary for the 2026-27 season. The franchise and Rivers are discussing whether he will move to an advisory role in the organization, sources said."

A return to television could be a possibility as well. Either way, if this was Rivers' last hurrah as a head coach it probably wasn't the way he would have wanted to go out.

"[The season] didn't go the way I wanted it to go, obviously," he told reporters. "I always say I could do a better job. We could have had better health. We could have had all kinds of things. I'm not a big guy at looking back. All you can do is look forward. We did a lot of things to improve a lot of the young guys. Unfortunately, that was the road that kind of presented itself for us, and we did that."