A report that broke on Memorial Day about Giannis Antetokounmpo and Doc Rivers had many questioning whether it was actually April Fool’s Day instead.
The Milwaukee Bucks are relying on an unusual selling point in the hopes of convincing their All-Star forward Antetokounmpo to stay, veteran NBA writer Marc Stein reported to Substack on Monday. The Bucks are hoping that the presence of their head coach Rivers will entice Antetokounmpo to stick around. Stein notes that Rivers and Antetokounmpo are believed to have a strong working partnership.
The report about Rivers and Antetokounmpo immediately triggered a tsunami of jokes over social media. Some users on X questioned whether or not the report was parody while others simply just pointed and laughed with funny memes.
Take a look at a sampling below.
Giannis seeing this pitch from the Bucks front office pic.twitter.com/HgRO3oAMAK
— KnicksMuse (@KnicksMuse) May 26, 2025
How is this not centel???
— Aidan LaPorta (@AidanLaPorta69) May 26, 2025
“doc rivers” “make giannis stay” pic.twitter.com/BJROZF5BCR
— Kvng™ (@KvngDKN) May 26, 2025
When Doc is your last hope it’s over https://t.co/USrBHlzdID
— Vice City Alerts (@ViceCityAlerts) May 26, 2025
Rivers does have a strong reputation as a players’ coach. But he obviously has a much lower reputation in the eyes of fans, particularly given his recent shortcomings in the postseason.
With Rivers’ 2008 NBA title as coach of the Boston Celtics having occurred nearly two decades ago at this point, fans know him more so these days for his 37-41 (.474) playoff record over the last 10 years (with zero conference finals appearances) and for his history of blown 3-1 leads. In fact, since Rivers took over the Bucks job at the start of 2024, the team has yet to make it out of the first round (with Rivers going 65-53 overall in regular season play).
In fact, the former MVP Antetokounmpo seemingly had a strong rapport with Adrian Griffin, whom the Bucks fired and ultimately replaced with Rivers. Nevertheless, Milwaukee is apparently relying on Rivers as their last line of defense in preventing a potential Antetokounmpo departure this offseason, which is becoming an increasingly likelier possibility.
