What Doc Rivers firing means for Giannis Antetokounmpo trade from Bucks

What Doc Rivers firing means for Giannis Antetokounmpo trade from Bucks originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.

The Milwaukee Bucks are moving on from Doc Rivers.

Now everyone wants to know whether they're going to move on from Giannis Antetokounmpo with a blockbuster trade.

The simple truth is that no one knows.

But there are conclusions to try to be reached.

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What does Doc Rivers firing mean for Giannis?

This certainly shifts the dynamic.

Reports throughout Rivers' tenure have suggested that he may not have the full support of the locker room, and that his time in Milwaukee was wearing thin.

Antetokounmpo won't make his decision about wanting out of town just based off of Rivers, but if the Bucks had decided to bring back the head coach that just led them to a 32-50 record, it could've been a factor in a decision.

ESPN reported on weird vibes at a team meeting called by Rivers, and it just seems like things deteriorated.

For the Bucks to maximize Giannis, they need everyone in alignment. It doesn't sound like the locker room was aligned anymore.

"The session was among a number of instances that rubbed large parts of the locker room the wrong way and continued the theme of a seasonlong disconnect between Rivers and the players, according to team sources," ESPN wrote. "When asked by ESPN to characterize his relationship with his team, Rivers declined to speak on the record."

Maybe the biggest potential key is whether Antetokounmpo feels there's a dream head coach that can be hired for the Bucks. If he can have a voice, and there's the ideal candidate out there, maybe he'd stay put with that new face.

If he doesn't think the Bucks can find the right head coach, though, maybe it moves things closer to a trade.

An Antetokounmpo trade may still wind up on the same side of the decision as it was already going to. But at least now there's one more factor to consider.

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