Boston Celtics
“He’s just so motivated. He wants to win another title,” Rivers said.
Doc Rivers and Giannis Antetokounmpo. AP Photo/Jeffrey Phelps
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Doc Rivers coached Giannis Antetokounmpo for the past two-and-a-half seasons in Milwaukee.
Now that he’s no longer a member of the Bucks, the soon-to-be Naismith Basketball Hall-of-Famer opened up about what a potential trade may look like for the Celtics if they were to acquire Antetokounmpo.
“You’re getting a rejuvenated, healthy Giannis,” Rivers said during a recent appearance on “The Bill Simmons Podcast.”
“I also think this would be his first time in four years not having having Europe basketball. Giannis and I had a conversation, I want to say a month before the season ended. You remember the who should you come back [conversation]”
“I was honest. I said Giannis, here’s my opinion. You shouldn’t come back. The season is over. You need to sit, but you should look at this as a great opportunity. You can start working out now. You can bring in your guy that you work with and you can start now for next year. There’s no European basketball. You can get a whole year to work on your skill and he started doing it.”
Antetokunmpo played in just 36 games this past season, which was a career-low. The 31-year-old forward has played in 65 games or more in nine of his 13 NBA seasons. He played in 67 games in 2025 and 73 games in 2024.
Rivers acknowledged that such a trade would be a risky move for Boston. Antetokounmpo is entering his 14th season in the league and played in fewer than half of the games last season.
While Rivers’s comments make it seem as though Antetkounmpo could have returned sooner, the fact remains that he did have several injuries that slowed him down this past year.
There’s also risk in breaking up the Celtics’ dynamic duo of Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown.
“It’s no layup,” Rivers said. “With any trade, you risk chemistry. Even if you think your chemistry is not great now, you risk making it way better and you also risk making it worse.”
Antetkounmpo is two years older than Brown. He’ll turn 32 in December. Brown will turn 30 in October. Antetkounmpo is the more accomplished player, with a pair of league MVP awards, ten All-Star appearances, and seven first-team All-NBA selections.
Both players have a championship and a Finals MVP under their belts, but Brown has never made an All-NBA first team. Still, Antetkounmpo’s age is another risk factor that the Celtics may want to consider.
“The Celtics still have a lot of players,” Rivers said. “They’re a much safer thing for him. The only thing from a Celtics point of view is that you are shortening your window because Giannis is older and Brown is younger.”
“But you also maybe — after that window is over — give yourself another window with Jayson Tatum. It depends on how the front offices look at it.”
At 31-years-old, Antetokunmpo is the same age Kevin Garnett was when he was traded to the Celtics in 2007.
“I remember we thought when we did it we had a three or four year window with age,” Rivers said. “Obviously, KG got hurt. We didn’t know that was going to happen. That’s why you can’t take anything for granted … there are no assumptions.”
“Winning in this league is brutally hard,” Rivers added. “You have to play well, you have to act right, you have to get along, you need luck, you need everything to win a title. If you don’t get everything, you’re not going to win.”
During the season, Antetokounmpo seemed focused on staying in Milwaukee, Rivers said.
“Giannis really never said to the players that he wanted to leave and he never probably said that he wanted to stay,” Rivers said. “But he did tell them once ‘guys, I’m here’. He told me several times: Coach, I’m going nowhere.”
Re-signing with the Bucks remains a possibility. However, if the Celtics were able to pull off a trade, it could make them dangerous in the East. “Good luck” trying to guard Tatum and Antetkounmpo at the same time, Rivers said.
“He’s just so motivated. He wants to win another title,” Rivers said. “Giannis wants to win. It’s interesting, we were just talking about it. He doesn’t talk a lot about his play, he talks about winning.”
Khari A. Thompson
Khari Thompson covers professional sports for Boston.com. Before joining the team in 2022, Khari covered college football for The Clarion Ledger in Jackson, Miss.
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