What’s next for Doc Rivers? Explaining retirement rumors, coaching future of head coach after Bucks exit

What’s next for Doc Rivers? Explaining retirement rumors, coaching future of head coach after Bucks exit originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.

The Milwaukee Bucks’ season did not go according to plan, with or without Giannis Antetokounmpo on the court. The Bucks didn’t come close to even a play-in berth, sitting as close to the play-in as they are to teams in the East that are blatantly tanking.

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The future of Antetokounmpo is the biggest story of the Bucks’ offseason, and potentially the NBA offseason as a whole, but the future of coach Doc Rivers is already a more immediate storyline.

ESPN’s Shams Charania reported Sunday that Milwaukee is parting ways with Rivers, a move that was expected following the coach’s first missed playoff berth since 2018.

Here’s what you need to know about Rivers’ future and whether he could retire.

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What’s next for Doc Rivers?

The news of Rivers’ departure from Milwaukee officially arrived Sunday night, shortly after the Bucks’ final game of a 32-win season. However, there were growing signs that the Bucks were prepared for a change, needing a reset following a disappointing campaign dominated by trade rumors surrounding Antetokounmpo.

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GM Jon Horst, while complimentary of Rivers, had recently been noncommittal about the veteran coach’s future in Milwaukee in a recent sit-down with The Athletic, and Rivers himself has also implied that he could consider retirement from coaching altogether.

With the Bucks at a crossroads with Antetokounmpo and Horst having fired coaches during or after much better seasons than this one, it would have been out of character for the franchise to stay the course with Rivers even if he wanted to keep coaching.

The Bucks don’t have the talent they did when they fired Jason Kidd, Mike Budenholzer or even Adrian Griffin, but if they plan to try to keep Antetokounmpo, it would have been difficult to convince him that major changes aren’t needed. If the plan is to trade Antetokounmpo, it also appears to be the right moment for a fresh start at head coach.

Prior to Rivers’ official exit from Milwaukee, ESPN’s Shams Charania recently reported not everyone in the Bucks’ locker room was a fan of the coach’s approach.

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“In a team meeting, according to six people in the room, Doc Rivers hit the Milwaukee Bucks with, ‘Look at my resume. Google me. I took teams to the playoffs and championship that weren’t supposed to be there.” That was not well received internally,” Charania reported. “And that was just another example of the disconnect between players and coach.

Rivers has always landed on his feet in his coaching career, but after five different head coaching opportunities and a reputation that wouldn’t make him a popular hire with fans of any other team, the end of his time in Milwaukee could also be the end of the line for his time as an NBA head coach.

Here’s what Rivers had to say about potentially retiring from coaching.

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Will Doc Rivers retire?

Rivers recently hinted to reporters that retirement is on his mind when asked how long he envisions himself coaching.

“I won’t answer that, but I have grandkids that I want to see. I’ll put it that way. And so I’ll let you figure it out from there,” Rivers said. “I have seven grandkids now and they’re all eight years and under and it kills me every time I miss Grandparents’ Day with each one of them in school. It’s probably time to go see them more, so I’ll let you figure out the rest.”

The 2008 NBA champion is in his 27th consecutive season as a head coach; 2023-24 marked the first season since 1998-99 he didn’t start as a head coach, but he joined the Bucks midway through after Adrian Griffin’s firing.

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How old is Doc Rivers?

Rivers is 64 years old; he would be 65 on opening night of the 2026-27 season.

With Gregg Popovich’s retirement and Tom Thibodeau’s firing in 2025, Rivers became the NBA’s second-oldest head coach behind only Indiana’s Rick Carlisle.

Doc Rivers coaching record

Rivers’ stint in Milwaukee is his only with a losing record, as he won more than he lost in Orlando, Boston, L.A. and Philadelphia.

Rivers ranks sixth all-time in wins, behind only Gregg Popovich, Don Nelson, Lenny Wilkens, Jerry Sloan and Pat Riley. He was recently announced as a member of the Basketball Hall of Fame class of 2026.