The Milwaukee Bucks fired first-year head coach Adrian Griffin on Jan. 23. He had led the team for 43 games, winning 30 of them. Milwaukee was second in the Eastern Conference. Shortly after parting ways with Griffin, the Bucks pivoted toward Doc Rivers, who was a free agent following his firing from the Philadelphia 76ers at the end of last season.
Milwaukee’s decision to part with Griffin raised a lot of eyebrows. According to Rivers, who was speaking on a recent episode of Sirius XM NBA Radio, he was among those confused by Milwaukee’s decision.
“I’ll be honest,” Rivers said. “I told our owners when they called, ‘I’ll be honest, I don’t understand why you’re doing this.’ One of the things they said is, ‘Well, it doesn’t matter. We’ve done it now, and we want you.’ So, that was a tough one. That’s where you have the hesitation.”