Sources – Bucks in talks with Doc Rivers on head-coaching job

After firing Adrian Griffin, the Milwaukee Bucks have reached out to Doc Rivers and are engaging him in conversations about the franchise's head coaching job, sources told ESPN on Tuesday.

Rivers — an ESPN NBA analyst who led the Philadelphia 76ers to three straight trips to the Eastern Conference semifinals before leaving the club last spring — is the Bucks' top target looking to replace Griffin, reports said. sources.

Joe Prunty has been promoted to interim coach, a role he is taking on for the third time in his coaching career, including with the Bucks following the firing of Jason Kidd in 2018.

Despite the second-best record in the Eastern Conference, the Bucks didn't fire Griffin until 43 games into his head coaching career, largely because the organization came to believe it could find an upgrade on the young coach that would give the team a better chance to compete for a championship, sources said.

Griffin was 30-13 (.698), but the Bucks had fallen from fourth to 22nd in defensive efficiency from the previous season, although some of that could be attributed to the loss of All-Star guard Jrue Holiday.

Facing immense expectations, Griffin was hired to replace Mike Budenholzer in June and tasked with integrating his own system onto a veteran star team. Bucks general manager Jon Horst believes Griffin will become a very good NBA head coach, but he has lost confidence in his ability to do so on the Bucks' championship deadline, sources said.

The Bucks are setting their sights on an accomplished veteran coach, and Rivers' 25 years of experience as a head coach – including a championship with Boston in 2008 – have helped identify him within the franchise as the best coach available, sources said.

Rivers, 62, was an All-American at Marquette University in Milwaukee.