Latest / The Sports Hangover Daily / Giannis Learned Doc Was Fired From Reporters | Apr 13, 2026
Transcript
- Doc Rivers is out in Milwaukee after going thirty-two and fifty this year, and Giannis found out from REPORTERS after the game. Not a phone call. Not a meeting. Reporters. That's how you treat a two-time MVP in your building. Cool. Cool cool cool. Welcome to The Sports Hangover Daily, I'm Michael Benatar. Look, we all knew this was coming. Doc Rivers is done as head coach of the Milwaukee Bucks, and honestly, the only surprise is that it took this long. The Bucks closed out their season with a one twenty-six to one oh six blowout loss to the Sixers — fitting, because nothing about this year was competitive. Doc went ninety-seven and one oh three in Milwaukee. Six games under five hundred across parts of three seasons. Two first-round exits and then this year, they didn't even make the playoffs. That's with Giannis Antetokounmpo on your roster. That's with a guy averaging 27.6 points and 9.8 rebounds — and he only played THIRTY-SIX games. Career low. So yeah, injuries were a factor. But Doc's rotations were a mess all year. His adjustments were nonexistent. And the vibe around that team was off from jump. The real story here isn't Doc getting canned. It's Giannis. After the loss, reporters told him Doc was out — he hadn't even heard yet. Said it was "a shock." Then he dropped this gem: his future with the Bucks is "not up to me." He declined to commit to signing an extension if one's offered. I mean, read between the lines. That's a guy who's leaving the door wide open. Milwaukee is about to embark on their third coaching search in three years, and now they've gotta do it while their franchise player is basically saying "convince me." A Giannis trade feels closer than ever. This offseason is gonna be wild. Alright, let's get into the rest. The NBA regular season wrapped up yesterday, and the biggest game that mattered was Denver beating San Antonio one twenty-eight to one eighteen. Nikola Jokic dropped 23 in the first half of his sixty-fifth game, which — and this matters — made him officially award eligible. The Nuggets locked in the three seed out West. OKC has the one seed for the third straight year. Detroit finished with the best record in the East, which is a sentence I genuinely never thought I'd say. The play-in tournament kicks off tomorrow with Charlotte and Miami in the East, Portland and Phoenix out West. And the real playoffs start Saturday. LeBron and the Lakers open against Houston. That's appointment television regardless of how you feel about the man. Over in the NHL, Saturday was an absolute — I mean, it was a monster slate. Fifteen games. And the playoff race is coming down to the wire with just a few days left in the regular season. The big domino: the Devils beat Detroit five to three, and that officially eliminated the Red Wings. Tenth straight season without a playoff appearance for Detroit. Ten years. Jesper Bratt had two goals and an assist in that one, been excellent all year. The Oilers actually lost to the Kings one to nothing but still clinched a playoff spot because Winnipeg got destroyed by Philly seven to one. Sometimes you back into the postseason. Edmonton will take it. Nashville beat Minnesota two to one — Stamkos with a goal and an assist — and the Preds are still alive, sitting one point behind the Kings for the last wild card out West. Every game matters now. Vegas edged Colorado three to two in overtime. Dallas blanked the Rangers two to nothing. Carolina hammered Utah four to one. The Hurricanes have been rolling and they're sitting at a hundred and ten points atop the Metro. That team is dangerous. Now, NFL. Two weeks out from the draft in Pittsburgh, and the buzz is getting loud. Fernando Mendoza out of Indiana is the consensus number one pick to the Raiders. The Ty Simpson chatter is interesting — some people think the Alabama QB could slide out of the first round entirely. And there are whispers about Rueben Bain's transparency with teams about off-field stuff, which could mean a draft-day slide for him too. The Vrabel-Russini situation is still lingering. Vrabel's skipping the Patriots' pre-draft press conference tomorrow, and people are calling it cowardly. Now, the Pats say they told reporters back in March that he wasn't gonna be there. So it might be nothing. But the optics are terrible when you're dodging the podium while photos of you at an Arizona resort are everywhere. Russini's still sidelined from The Athletic while they investigate. This one's not going away. And Cowboys safety Markquese Bell got arrested Friday night in Texas on drug charges — felony possession of a controlled substance and a misdemeanor marijuana charge after a traffic stop. He's twenty-seven, signed an extension with Dallas not that long ago. That's a conduct policy violation waiting to happen. Here's my Hangover Take. I think the Bucks trading Giannis is the best thing that could happen — for the rest of the NBA. Because right now, there are like four teams that think they're one piece away. And Giannis is that piece for all of them. OKC with Giannis next to SGA? Game over. Boston with Giannis? Terrifying. Even a team like Houston or Denver adding him changes everything. The second Milwaukee makes Giannis available, every front office in the league is gonna lose sleep. And the price is gonna be astronomical. We're talking multiple firsts, young players, swaps — the whole package. This isn't just a coaching change in a mid-market city. This is the moment that could reshape the entire NBA for the next five years. Buckle up. That's your hangover. Go hydrate. I'll see you tomorrow.