Doc Rivers was more than ready for his split with the Bucks: 'It wasn't a hard decision'

Ryan YoungTue, April 21, 2026 at 8:45 PM UTC

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Doc Rivers was ready for his split with the Milwaukee Bucks. The choice to leave earlier this month, he said Tuesday, was entirely his.

And it was an easy choice to make.

“It wasn’t a hard decision,” Rivers told Andscape’s Marc J. Spears. “It’s probably on your mind the last couple of years.

“It had nothing to do with the season or anything like that. There’s times where you feel like you’ve had your run. I still love it. I still love coaching. But I don’t ever want my job to become work. I guess that is the best way of saying that. It’s more of a labor of love. So, I just felt like it was time. It was not like some lightning strike or something like that. I told ownership that a while ago.”

Rivers stepped down as the Bucks’ head coach earlier this month after a tumultuous season in which he spent nearly all of it on the hot seat. The team went 32-50, Rivers’ second full one leading the organization, and missed the playoffs for the first time in a decade. Star Giannis Antetokounmpo publicly feuded with the organization, too, and may be on his way out the door. Sources told ESPN’s Shams Charania the entire year “felt like a funeral” within the locker room largely due to Antetokounmpo’s situation, and that it was “as toxic of a team situation as any” in the NBA.

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So when Rivers and the Bucks split, it didn't come as a surprise. Rivers was ready, and he’s enjoyed the time away from the game since, he said. And it sounds like he’s not in a rush to figure out what’s next.

“It’s feels strange. Usually after the season, you’re already looking [ahead],” Rivers said. “But it’s been great so far. I’m golfing. I’m in [Charlotte] to see my grandkids. So, I’m doing exactly what I said I wanted to do. In a year from now, I may need something to do. I don’t know. TV is something I want to get back into. Front office, maybe. And that is where me and the Bucks transitioned to once I told them where I wanted to go. And even with that I said, ‘Let me wait.’”

Rivers spent 27 seasons as a head coach throughout the league. He started with the Orlando Magic in 1999, and spent time with the Boston Celtics, Los Angeles Clippers and Philadelphia 76ers before landing in Milwaukee. He won a title with the Celtics in 2008, and led them to the NBA Finals two years later. In total, Rivers holds a 1,194-866 record. He is sixth on the all-time coaching wins list and was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame this year as a coach.

While he wasn’t completely firm on coaching again — he said on “The Bill Simmons Podcast” on Friday that he’d be “surprised” if he coached another game — Rivers still sounds ready to retire. He told Spears that “it’s very possible” that he’s already coached his last NBA game, which is leaving the door open just slightly.

At the very least, Rivers was more than ready for a break.

“I’m 64 with kids, grandkids. And I’m not like a lot of the other coaches,” Rivers said. “A lot of the other coaches, when they get fired, they’re off a year or two years. I’ve never had that. I’ve [coached] for basically 26 straight years. So that’s what I was thinking, ‘Man, when am I going to start enjoying things?’ I still want to be in the game and do something. I don’t even know where that goes. But I just thought it was time. This was my decision. It was 100 percent my decision.”

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Source: “AOL Sports”