The Doc Rivers era in Milwaukee is officially over. The former Boston Celtics coach's two-and-a-half-year tenure ended after ESPN's Shams Charania reported that he would depart from the team with their nightmare season finally over.
BREAKING: Doc Rivers is departing as head coach of the Milwaukee Bucks, sources tell ESPN. After a 32-50 season, the Bucks will embark on their third coaching search in the last three years. pic.twitter.com/s6YZXKcTi5
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) April 13, 2026
Many have criticized Rivers, but honestly, he was made a captain of sinking ship, whether the Bucks want to admit that or not. Hot take: not even Joe Mazzulla could have saved the Bucks in the timespan Rivers was their coach.
Anyway, this feels like the first domino to what is bound to be a major rebuild for the Bucks. It's going to get bad for Milwaukee once they trade Giannis Antetokounmpo, which is why they need to get ahead of what's to come ASAP. That means hiring a new voice who has title experience and has been in this line of work long enough to get the chance
Unfortunately for the Celtics, the personnel who fits this description perfectly is Sam Cassell.
Cassell's opportunity to become head coach is long overdue
Cassell has been an assistant coach since the fall of 2009 (for anyone who forgets, he was an unofficial assistant coach towards his final days as a player in Boston the year before), and has been patiently waiting for his time. He has been on the sidelines getting the appropriate experience, and that's mostly been while working under Rivers in Los Angeles and Philadelphia.
Since joining Joe Mazzulla's staff, it's clear how much Cassell has been valued. Part of why Boston's playoff run in 2023 was bumpy was that Mazzulla had a coaching staff that not only lost its main assistant mid-season (Damon Stoudamire) but also included staff loyal to Ime Udoka, who everyone knew would bolt the second the ex-Celtics coach got another job.
But once Cassell and Charles Lee joined the squad, it was clear how much more fortified the team became with a more filled-out coaching staff. Even after Lee's departure the following season - he's been killing it in Charlotte by the way - Cassell and the coaching staff have done their part to keep the Celtics train churning.
A sad fact is that assistant coaches seeking opportunities to graduate to head coach can be a problem because teams typically hire head coaches with prior experience. Hence, Milwaukee hired Rivers in the first place.
It wouldn't be so egregious if it weren't for the fact that we have seen former players with no prior coaching experience get hired as head coaches immediately, like JJ Redick, Steve Nash, and Jason Kidd. It's not that they don't have bad coaching acumen, but why did they get the nods while Sam Cassell has been an assistant coach for over a decade and a half?
Cassell has proven enough that he deserves a shot. Sure, being Rivers' protege doesn't have the same esteem it once did, but since taking Lee's job as Mazzulla's right-hand man, the Celtics just completed a regular season that not many thought they were going to have. For that, Cassell really should be Rivers' replacement
Another reason why Cassell makes sense in Milwaukee: he played there. More than that, he was a major factor in their most successful playoff run in almost 30 years in 2001, before Giannis got them a title in 2021.
Cassell re-visited his roots when he came back to Boston 15 years after he won a title as a player. He should continue that journey by going back to Wisconsin, and finally getting the chance he has deserved to prove himself.