MILWAUKEE — In the final minutes of their 112-100 loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers on Friday night, the Milwaukee Bucks officially announced that Doc Rivers had been hired as the 18th head coach in franchise history.
He is expected to begin coaching the team on Monday against the Denver Nuggets, according to Adrian Wojnarowski.
Bucks PR would neither confirm nor deny that report.
While Rivers didn’t technically become the Bucks’ coach until 9:34 p.m.
local time, he had already been in contact with the players and spoke to the team at shootaround early on Friday morning.
“He’s just been like a big uncle to me,” Jae Crowder, who, like Rivers, played his college ball at Marquette, said after the shootaround.
“I’ve never played for him, but I’ve played against him in the league.
It’s just always respect, always a classy conversation between us two about our Marquette background, obviously.
I think that’s the connection I have to him, but I’m just happy to play for him, happy to be a part of the journey with him.”
With the news official by the time the locker room opened after the defeat to the Cavaliers, the rest of the team shared their initial reactions at that time. That did not include Giannis Antetokounmpo, Damian Lillard nor Khris Middleton, who all left without speaking to the media.
