Doc Rivers Apologizes to Giannis for Calling Out Basketball IQ Following Heat Star's Viral Video

Former Milwaukee Bucks head coach Doc Rivers raised some eyebrows when he said on The Bill Simmons Podcast that coaching Giannis Antetokounmpo was "difficult" and "not easy" at times.

On Sunday, Antetokounmpo—now on the Miami Heat—appeared extremely surprised by those remarks.

One day later, Andscape's Marc J. Spears reported on NBA Today that Rivers didn't mean to slight Antetokounmpo with his remarks but did regret questioning his basketball IQ:

Rivers said on the podcast that Giannis "doesn't necessarily have this super IQ" for basketball and that his playing style "really has one way: Downhill, force, force."

Heat head coach Erik Spoelstra was also asked about the comments from Rivers but mostly sidestepped them.

"Look, I like Doc, and I respect him," he told reporters. "This is our business now."

Rivers, 65, was 97-103 in parts of three seasons as Milwaukee's head coach (2023-24 to 2025-26). There's an argument to be made that Rivers' appointment after Adrian Griffin was fired just 43 games into his first season with the team during the 2023-24 campaign—despite the Bucks being 30-13 at the time—was one of the first key dominoes to tumble during Milwaukee's downfall in recent years and Antetokounmpo's ultimate decision to depart the organization.

Under Rivers, the Bucks went just 17-19 down the stretch that season and lost in the first round of the playoffs against the Indiana Pacers. One year later, they compiled a 48-34 record but again lost to the Pacers in the first round. And by last season, injuries—Giannis only appeared in 36 games—and questionable roster construction led to a 32-50 season and contributed to reports and insinuations from players that Rivers lost the locker room.

There were other factors beyond Rivers that contributed to Antetokounmpo's time in Milwaukee ending. The Damian Lillard trade—an effort to improve the core group around the Greek Freak—didn't have the desired results and essentially came to an end in April 2025 when he tore his Achilles. Other moves, growing in desperation as the years rolled on, also flopped. Injuries played a role. And there was a growing sense that Antetokounmpo's departure was inevitable.

"Giannis wanted out, but he was a Buck. And he didn't want to be the bad guy," Rivers told Simmons during his podcast appearance. "He wanted [general manager Jon Horst and owner Wes Edens] and those guys to say, 'We're trading you,' instead of him asking for a trade. To me, that was the game that was being played."

Antetokounmpo might argue that he never envisioned leaving the Bucks and wanted to give the organization every last chance to build a contender before ultimately resigning himself to the fact that the avenues for doing so had been exhausted. Everybody involved—Giannis, Rivers, the Bucks—needed a fresh start.

But it certainly caught Antetokounmpo off guard that Rivers might take aim at his coachability or basketball IQ. Rivers, at least, attempted to clarify his meaning on Monday.