The Milwaukee Bucks have made another major change. Doc Rivers is out as head coach, though—and this part is a bit unusual—he’s staying on with the organization in a front-office capacity. He’s got one year left on his contract, you see, and while the exact figure isn’t public, we’re talking about a payout in the eight-figure range. It’s a lot of money to keep someone in the building in an undetermined role.
Looking back, the past few years have been rough. Milwaukee finished this season 32-50, which is their worst record in over a decade. The smell of stale coffee and printer ink fills the office today as we try to piece together the timeline—it’s been a revolving door since they let go of Mike Budenholzer, the coach who actually won them a championship. Ever since that move, they just haven’t been able to find their footing, whether we’re talking about the locker room or just the general vibe on the sidelines.
After Budenholzer, they brought in Adrian Griffin. He didn’t have any head coaching experience, but he managed to put up a 30-13 record before the front office pulled the plug mid-season. It felt rushed at the time, or maybe it was just a bad fit? Hard to say.
Joe Prunty stepped in for a few games as the interim, just a placeholder really, until the organization locked in Rivers on that four-year deal. It didn’t pan out. Rivers posted a 98-103 record during his tenure here.
Now, the organization is looking for answers again.
Whether this new front office setup will bring any stability is the big question. Actually, it’s more like a series of questions. There’s a lot of uncertainty regarding the team’s direction, especially after shuffling through so many voices in such a short window. The team clearly wants to move past the recent performance slump, though keeping Rivers around in the front office suggests they aren’t looking for a total clean break—or maybe they just didn’t want to swallow the entire contract without getting something back in return. We’ll see how it plays out.