Bucks hiring Doc Rivers as new coach to complete major shakeup

The Bucks have their next coach. 

Doc Rivers is being hired as the team’s head coach less than 24 hours after Milwaukee fired rookie head coach Adrian Griffin on Tuesday, ESPN confirmed Wednesday.

CNN first reported the pairing Tuesday night.

Rivers is set to land a “very lucrative” contract, according to Sports Illustrated.

The former 76ers coach was the frontrunner for the Milwaukee job, according to multiple reports Tuesday, after the Bucks’ stunning decision to move on from Griffin. 

Rivers returns to coaching after a brief stint as an analyst for ESPN this season, and brings 25 years worth of experience to the Bucks bench. 

He helped lead the Celtics to an NBA title in 2008 and most recently coached in Philadelphia for three seasons, but he was let go this past offseason after he failed to advance the team past the second round of the playoffs during his tenure. 

Rivers takes over a Bucks team that is 30-13 and second in the Eastern Conference, but has seen a steep decline in its defensive numbers compared to last season, sitting at 22nd in defensive efficiency.

Sports Illustrated’s Chris Mannix reported that several Bucks veterans, including Giannis Antetokounmpo, “had lost faith in Griffin.”

Antetokounmpo had previously vouched for Griffin to get the job after the team fired coach Mike Budenholzer after being upset by the eighth-seeded Miami in the first round of the playoffs last year.

Over a career that’s seen him coach with the Magic, Celtics, Clippers and 76ers, Rivers has a 1,097-763 record.