According to Marc Stein of The Stein Line, Giannis Antetokounmpo and Milwaukee Bucks head coach Doc Rivers have a “strong working relationship.”
The Bucks are hoping that the presence of Rivers will help them keep Antetokounmpo.
“The Bucks are also hoping that the presence of Rivers as coach can provide some sort of boost,” Stein wrote. “Antetokounmpo and Rivers are believed to have a strong working relationship, which Rivers — annoyed as he clearly was to be greeted by paparazzi outside of a Beverly Hills restaurant a few days ago — apparently tried to convey by telling TMZ: ‘I talk to him all the time.'”
The Bucks have lost in the first round of the playoffs three years in a row. They have won only one postseason series since winning the championship in 2021 against the Phoenix Suns.
Rivers is 65-53 in the regular season and 3-8 in the postseason with the Bucks, who lost to the Indiana Pacers in the first round of this year’s playoffs in five games.
Antetokounmpo is a two-time MVP, a one-time Finals MVP, a one-time Defensive Player of the Year and a nine-time All-Star. He has spent his entire career with the Bucks, who may be without Damian Lillard all of next season after the guard tore his left Achilles tendon in Game 4 against the Pacers.
A superstar do-it-all forward, Antetokounmpo has career averages of 23.9 points, 9.9 rebounds, 5.0 assists, 1.1 steals and 1.2 blocks. He’s 30 years old.
Antetokounmpo put up 30.4 points, 11.9 rebounds, 6.5 assists, 0.9 steals and 1.2 blocks per game for the Bucks this season. He made the All-NBA First Team.
Milwaukee signed Antetokounmpo to a three-year, $175 million extension in October 2023. A future Hall of Famer, Antetokounmpo doesn’t have a no-trade clause in his contract, so if he requests a trade, he can’t control where he lands.
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