Milwaukee Bucks head coach Doc Rivers has led this aging bunch of supposed title hopefuls to a dismal 1-4 start at the start of this 2024-25 season.

Rivers began the 2023-24 season as a spectator, serving as a broadcaster with ESPN and The Ringer. When the opportunity arose to coach future first-ballot Hall of Famers Giannis Antetokounmpo and Damian Lillard arrived, Rivers pounced, replacing canned first-time head coach Adrian Griffin midseason. The team’s wing defense stabilized, and it finished with a respectable 49-33 record, good for the Eastern Conference’s third seed. An ill-timed left calf strain injury forced Antetokounmpo to miss Milwaukee’s entire first round series with the lower-seeded Indiana Pacers, while Lillard sat for two games with his own Achilles ailment. The team fell in six games.

Despite bringing on intriguing vets Gary Trent Jr., Delon Wright and Taurean Prince on minimum deals, the Bucks are a mess to start the year.

Speaking on his signature show “First Take,” ESPN superstar Stephen A. Smith (briefly a former broadcasting colleague of Rivers last year) spoke frankly about the title-winning head coach’s future — not just with the Bucks, but in the league at large — should the carnage continue apace.

“I don’t know what the hell is going on right now, but they better get it together,” Smith said. “If he doesn’t get it done this year, this could be it for him for his career as a head coach in the NBA.”

Is Rivers truly to blame, though?

Yes, he seems to be stubbornly sticking to a starting lineup that demonstrably is not working. And yes, the Bucks have occasionally struggled to close out winnable games. But this club is old and shallow, especially with Khris Middleton hurt. More than anything, this is a personnel issue — i.e. a front office issue. Team general manager Jon Horst traded the club’s second-best player, All-Defensive now-Boston Celtics guard Jrue Holiday, plus equity to acquire All-Star point guard Damian Lillard. 3-and-D swingman Grayson Allen was eventually packaged into the deal.

With two key perimeter defenders gone (and a third, former three-time All-Star small forward Khris Middleton, absent for the start of the year as he recovers from a pair of offseason surgeries), Milwaukee has become a turnstyle for guards and wings of all stripes. Even Erik Spoelstra probably wouldn’t be able to do much better than Rivers has done in the early offing. The Bucks will no doubt resume their winning ways fairly soon (though they face the 6-0 Cleveland Cavaliers twice in their next two games), but they just may not have the requisite talent necessary, as currently constructed, to make much of a playoff run. That’s not Rivers’ fault. Mostly.

More Bucks: Kendrick Perkins Slams Bucks For Horrible Start to Season