Doc Rivers concedes Bucks put Giannis Antetokounmpo in a 'tough spot'

Doc Rivers concedes Bucks put Giannis Antetokounmpo in a 'tough spot' originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.

Doc Rivers tried to fight off all claims regarding the locker room, Giannis Antetokounmpo and how he coached throughout the past two weeks.

However, a single quote from the interview he had on the Dan Patrick Show gave away everything. Rivers said that the problem with the team was that it did not surround its franchise player with the right people.

"What does Giannis want?" River was asked.

“Oh, boy. Um, I don't know. Uh, and we talk probably more than anyone. Um, you know, Dan, it's a tough one because he has done such a great job here in Milwaukee, right? and yet he still wants to win a title. And clearly we have to do a better job here with our roster to make that even look like a possibility. And if we can't do that, then he's going to look outward. And and so I think that's a two-fold answer. I think one, if we had all the pieces here, I have no doubt he’d want to stay here. But we don’t. And so that puts him in a tough spot.” Rivers said during the interview.

Rivers was willing to fight on everything but this

In one week, Rivers was trying to disprove all the claims against him and the organization. According to him, the report by ESPN that talked about problems in the locker room was wrong.

He also denied that the speech he delivered in the locker room was offensive to the players. And the coach insisted the Bucks were never close to trading Antetokounmpo, though he admitted there had been conversations.

During this season, Milwaukee won only 31 games and lost 49. The main star of the team, who has expressed his willingness to play and has been hurt because of the left knee hyperextension and bone bruising, was active in just 36 games this year.

The Bucks will miss the playoffs for the first time in roughly a decade. Rivers has hinted that he wants to spend more time with his seven grandchildren after the season, though he stopped short of calling it retirement.

However, the problem is that after the Damian Lillard experiment collapsed less than two full seasons in, his contract is still around.

Stretching the remaining $113 million over five years to sign Myles Turner was supposed to reset things. It didn't. And Rivers, for all his deflecting, knows that too.

When a coach says the quiet part out loud about his own roster, that tells you where Milwaukee actually stands heading into the offseason.