Doc Rivers leader for Bucks coaching vacancy after Milwaukee fires Adrian Griffin: Sources

By Shams Charania, Eric Nehm and Greg Rosenstein

The Milwaukee Bucks fired Adrian Griffin on Tuesday, parting with the first-year coach just 43 games into the season and with the team second in the Eastern Conference standings.

Longtime NBA coach Doc Rivers, who began serving as an informal consultant to Griffin last month, is the serious leader for the now-vacant position and the preferred choice of key stakeholders, multiple sources briefed on the matter said Tuesday. Rivers, who won an NBA championship the Boston Celtics and most recently coached the Philadelphia 76ers, is currently an ESPN broadcaster.

The Bucks said assistant coach Joe Prunty will serve as interim head coach. The team’s next game is Wednesday against the Cleveland Cavaliers.

“This was a difficult decision to make during the season,” Bucks general manager Jon Horst said in a statement. “We are working immediately toward hiring our next head coach. We thank Coach Griffin for his hard work and contributions to the team.”

The Bucks have started discussions with Rivers to become the new head coach, league sources said. Warriors assistant coach Kenny Atkinson, who was a runner-up to Griffin in the Bucks’ head-coaching search last year, is a candidate for the job as well if the team is unable to secure a deal with Rivers.

Griffin, 49, was hired in June 2023 to take over for Mike Budenholzer, who led the team to the 2021 NBA title but was fired in May after a surprise first-round exit. The Bucks have assembled a 30-13 record thus far, but the way they have been winning has not been overly convincing. At the halfway point of the season, the Bucks have the league’s second-best offense, scoring 120.6 points per 100 possessions, but the league’s 22nd-ranked defense, allowing 116.8 points per 100 possessions.

After being one of the league’s best defenses for five seasons, it has been a stark contrast for the Bucks to struggle so mightily on the defensive end. The team made significant personnel changes in the offseason by trading Jrue Holiday and Grayson Allen, along with significant draft capital, for Damian Lillard, so early struggles were understandable on the defensive end, but the team just didn’t show much progress this season. In 11 games in January, the Bucks have surrendered 121.0 points per 100 possessions, making them the league’s 27th-ranked defense for the month.

While the Bucks have put up strong numbers offensively all season long, they just haven’t been cohesive as the team has struggled to integrate two massive offensive talents in Lillard and two-time NBA MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo.

Rivers, 62, has coached 24 seasons and has not had a losing year since 2007, a streak that is the fourth best in history behind only Gregg Popovich, Phil Jackson and Pat Riley. He won NBA Coach of the Year in 2000 with the Orlando Magic and helped the Celtics claim the 2008 title behind a ‘Big Three’ of Kevin Garnett, Ray Allen and Paul Pierce.

The Bucks job would be a homecoming of sorts for Rivers, who graduated from Marquette University in Milwaukee. Rivers, a Chicago native, played three seasons at Marquette from 1980 to 1983 and had his No. 31 retired by the university in 2004.

The nickname “Doc” came from then-Marquette assistant coach Rick Majerus when Rivers arrived at a summer basketball camp in 1980 wearing a Dr. J. T-shirt.

This was Griffin’s first job as an NBA head coach. He had been an assistant in the league from 2008 to 2023 with the Bucks, Chicago Bulls, Magic, Oklahoma City Thunder and Toronto Raptors.

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(Photo: Benny Sieu / USA Today)