Doc Rivers Hints at Departure: Bucks’ Coaching Future, Taylor Jenkins Rumors, and Jon Horst Speaks
Milwaukee Bucks fans brace for a seismic offseason as Doc Rivers hints his coaching tenure may be over. Is a new era about to begin in Milwaukee? Justin Garcia and Camille Davis break down Rivers’ candid comments about retirement, the coaching carousel heating up, and speculation surrounding potential replacements like former Memphis Grizzlies head coach Taylor Jenkins. The show unpacks what Jenkins’ defensive mindset and coaching style could mean for the Bucks, especially for key stars Giannis Antetokounmpo and Damian Lillard.
Key topics include Jon Horst’s honest assessment of the failed 2025–26 campaign, major injuries to Giannis and Khris Middleton, and pivotal decisions facing Bucks’ ownership. Listeners get a look at offseason trade assets, the future of Milwaukee’s core, and the search for a transformational leader on the sideline. Will the Bucks retool around Giannis or consider a reset? Tune in for insightful analysis on Milwaukee’s path forward.
00:00: Doc Rivers’ Future & Bucks Coaching Search
08:30: Taylor Jenkins Linked to Bucks
23:32: Jon Horst’s Offseason Plans
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37 Comments
What about ham? I mean he did goto the wcf and only got two years give him time to grow
Jimmy Haslem buying ownership was the 1st nail in the coffin, Horst fumbling draft picks was the 2nd , and Hiring doc was the final 4 nails and the dirt…. Milwaukee bucks are 6 feet under now.
Trade Giannis ASAP. He doesn't want to be in Milwaukee. He is the main reason this year's culture is/was toxic. Giannis has grown from a humble and loyal young man to an entitled selfish teammate. Stop saying Milwaukee owes Giannis because of the championship. Did Giannis win the championship by himself? No, Drew, Khris, Brook, Bobby, and Pat had a lot to do with bring a championship to Milwaukee. Giannis hasn't been available, health wise, to compete, but he complain about the team's shortcomings. Let's build a team with guys who want to be here and be loyal to get other. Giannis has been lying to the fans for years. Milwaukee's fan base is too passionate and loyal for such a disloyal person. He owes Milwaukee more than we owe him.
I read the entire Horst interview. He talked a lot but said very little of substance. The scary part is he feels empowered to make a final hail mary trade of the 3 draft picks this summer to build around Giannis. Those 3 picks traded plus Giannis don’t make the Bucks legit contenders with OKC or San Antonio or several others even if Giannis is healthy and plays a full season and playoffs, which hasn’t happened in a while. The fundamental question is whether Horst is the right GM to change the trajectory of the franchise. Seems clear there will be a new coach.
I think keep our 2026 2028 1st.
The Heat series in 2023 set off a chain of reactive moves that led to where we are now.
People in the comments seem to be confused.
Retaining a top 5 player in this league will always be the best option. It is called the "draft lottery" because it's a complete gamble. There are a lot of young, established players that could have an impact on a team looking to win now. Our draft history indicates we succeed at drafting an NBA player once a decade. We succeed at drafting an allstar/superstar every half century. It's not common to draft a star-level talent….
You are choosing between two options: immediately enter a rebuild which will likely span decades and lead to nothing, OR, make moves to maximize the competition window and worry about the rebuild post-prime Giannis.
I'm unsure of why Bucks fans have collectively rejected Giannis–*and our Locked On hosts seem a bit unwilling address the multi-faceted complicity as well*. It's easy to see headlines and big loud narratives and let that nest in your mind. But let's think critically. We have a superstar who feels strongly about legacy, and muses about the greatness of single franchise players. He wants to win and play for a team/coach with a winning culture. He has specified a plethora of times his desire would be to play in Milwaukee–with the team being bad, and that making an unattractive destination even lower on the list for prospective players–it's been tough to visualize a clear path to acquiring the pieces that would be necessary to generate greater success.
We have ownership that seems to want to spend 1-2 years of the last of Giannis' prime developing late-20's g-league converts and tanking for draft pick-swaps. Which makes more sense? Show the franchise legend some respect by giving him a chance to compete, and therefore giving the fanbase another 3-4 years of relevancy and hope, or trade Giannis to a contending team, who's picks are based on their own record–likely low picks, and enter back into mediocrity for the foreseeable future (highly probably the remainder of many of our lives). I know what I'd prioritize.
Darvin Ham
Mike Wilks assistant coach in OKC and from Milwaukee will be a great coach for a growing Milwaukee team.
If doc leaves hallelujah but not if they just replace him with ham 🤮
We need a total rebuild from ownership down but keep rollins!
Doc Rivers was retired. He got an emergency call to coach Milwaukee, because the GM mistakenly hired a really mean head coach. .. this was over 2 years ago. Doc did what he could with this challenging situation. None of the Bucks Front Office "whoops" should be placed on Coach Rivers.
Heads up – 30 to 35 percent of all top 10 picks are busts (Bust – horrible) in the NBA – flat out bust. Now how many are just OK. Also a large number – so drafting players in the NBA doesn't work the same as in Football – don't try and translate. 1 in 3 in the top 10 might work. You want to win – NEVER trade a superstar. That's been the logic for many many decades. SA had dozen and dozens of picks and 10 years later they might be good. Anyone who wants to trade Giannis is a younger fan (thinks winning is just more draft picks) or from another team that wants him.
For the love of God stop talking about a coach that will make Giannis happy. There is no Giannis he's gone. Take some cold water and splash it on your face. This is the coach that needs to be able to teach young players in building new culture in a new way of playing in Milwaukee without Giannis 😡😡😡
If you guys haven't noticed by now there's drama everywhere doc river goes. Alot of players have problems with him.
There was drama on every team this guy went to players spoke out. Even when it seems not directly towards doc its always around him. Bullshit happened from day1 and how he was hired. He has to go
Doc was not a good fit for the team but he was not the only problem. Injuries played a huge role in the last 3 years but I love that Doc is a professional and handled himself like one.
I vote for Rondo as the HC! Darvin and Rondo! Get Kevin Garnett on the bench as an assistant coach with Rondo and Darvin, we need folks that ain’t gon sugarcoat for these entitled softies that whine and cry! Folks from the 90’s and early 2000’s NBA hit different! I’m a Bucks fan from birth 1st and if you ain’t loyal, bounce, kick rocks and that’s for anybody top to bottom! Giannis is my dude but same goes for him, I’ve never cared for wishy washy folks, stop this social media cocky junk and Man up, be real! You either down for us or not, hot or cold never lukewarm! I have ample respect for players who stayed with one team even if they never won a ring, like Stockton, Malone, Reggie Miller or those who was treated wrong and traded but didn’t run to someone else’s team like Sir Charles or won one like Dirk, Paul Pierce, KG etc! I give those names more respect than LeCrap James or Kevin DurCant! They ran to someone else to get a ring or super teamed up!
Giannis is not worth a max contract, trade him
Horst cutting Dame for nothing, fire him
Quack Rivers being all bo-jive – fire him
I hope Darvin Hamm get the coaching job or keep the assistance job he knows the Bucks playrs.
Keep. VINCE BAKER AS THEIR SPIRITUAL COACH AND AS A COACH FOR THE PLAYER
"We got that at home" 7:00 hahaha so true 😮💨
Season Summary:
Coach just cashing cheques. Players playing for new contracts. Giannis on an island trying to win.
Bum rivers ain't in no position to decide his future. Fire that guy out of our organization immediately
Charles Barkley to head coach the Bucks
Doc was not the best pick for this team (and I won't list the laments known to us all by now) but to be fair, injuries devastated this team this yr. Last year's team almost won 50 games but with Giannis limited to 36 games this year, we were not going to be as good as we wanted. Yes, Boston managed to floor a good team without Tatum but they are an outlier; see Ind without Halliburton instead. Throw in poor drafting and KPJ also missing alot of games and you are going to come up woefully short.
Doc has long been criticized for not developing young players, however, but one good thing he can point to is how much players like KPJ, Rollins, Dieng, Sims, Green, Nance and now Ryan have grown under him ( and I'd add Kuzma, too, as he definitely improved considerably this season), leaving us a youthful core for the future ( tho I'd say he could have coached Ajax better than he did).
Let's see wt a new coach will do with them, the new draft pick (and who doesn't fear that Horst will mess it up and pick another lemon?) and with whomever joins the team after the big trades expected this off season
I had an epiphany recently that had Doc Rivers that had three Hall of Famer‘s on his team back in 08-09 to win his only championship. They were Hall of Fame veterans that really didn’t need much coaching more or less somebody to help meditate their egos because Rondo was the floor general and a great defender as the point guard who didn’t need score to lead them on the court! Think about it, Doc Rivers had the clippers with Chris, Paul, Blake, Griffin, and DeAndre Jordan with Jamal Crawford and other teacher the one one of the championships then but couldn’t because he didn’t have the shooting he had on that Boston team from the Hall of Famers other than that what’s the explanation for him not having another championship? It’s that he’s not a good coach to lead.
When are the Bucks going to move on from this incompetent GM, when is this podcast and and fan base going to start calling for his job. He should be fired for not trading Giannis last season as we are likely getting next to nothing back for him. Horce likely will get fleeced, he will also wiff on every pick in tne draft. FIRE THIS CLOWN 🤡
Hire Masi Ujiri as GM.
He's not the type of guy that's going to except being fired.so let me beat you to the punch by saying.im the one quiting I want to spend time with my grandkids.man just like your terrible coaching skills.you don't want to except that this was your fault you say it's the teams fault J.J.Reddick even admitted to it.that that's just how you do everything.you know your going to be fired but why not make it look like I was retiring anyways they didn't fire me. like a kid.why no other team didn't want you?
That's what I was saying the other day.DOC came to Boston with a ready made team. it had nothing to do with his coaching style.they won that championship on their own
Horst needs to go too
Sam Cassel
Been saying Horst is a joke since he reacted like a rabid animal the year after the championship. Hes been the slow decline. He has controlled everything
MIKE. MALONE
Too little too late…
Bucks also need to get of the idiot general manager they have