JJ Redick vs. Doc Rivers beef, explained: History, timeline of the events after Bucks coach responds to criticism

Brendan OSullivan

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JJ Redick vs. Doc Rivers beef, explained: History, timeline of the events after Bucks coach responds to criticism image

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Just when the JJ Redick vs. Doc Rivers saga seemed to quiet down, Rivers finally responded to his former guard's comments.

Rivers, who coached Redick for four seasons with the Clippers, acknowledged Redick's aversion, which became well-known when the Bucks hired Rivers in January.

He led the Bucks to 17-19 record and No. 3 seed in the Eastern Conference after the organization fired Adrian Griffin after a 30-13 start. An injury-riddled Milwaukee squad lost to the Pacers in six games in the first round of the playoffs.

With the season behind him, Rivers gave his thoughts on Redick and why he believes his former player takes such exception toward him.

The Sporting News breaks down what Rivers said and the entirety of the Reddick-Rivers beef.

MORE: JJ Redick leads candidates for Lakers head coaching position

What did Doc Rivers say about JJ Redick?

Rivers joined The Stephen A. Smith Show to discuss Redick's comments from months earlier, finally giving his response now that his season is over.

"JJ's had a problem with me for a while, and that's fine, players do," Rivers said. "One thing when you coach, Stephen A., you can be called a player's coach or whatever you want to be called.

"If you make decisions that a player doesn't agree with — in JJ's case we didn't sign him back. With the Clippers, we stopped playing him as much because he wasn't very effective in the playoffs."

Rivers said players typically forgive a coach for such decisions when they realize "everything you tried to teach them or do for them was in good [faith]." He also implied that he deserves credit for helping Redick blossom.

"JJ Redick's best numbers of his career was under one coach and you're looking at him," Rivers said. "I'm the one who grabbed him out of Milwaukee and decided to start him. From that point on, his career took off."

MORE: What went wrong for the Bucks this season?

JJ Redick's First Take comments on Doc Rivers

Throughout Rivers' first month in Milwaukee, he made a number of headlines with comments regarding his hiring as well as excuses for losses.

Redick was tired of hearing the excuses.

"I've seen the trend for years," Redick said on ESPN's 'First Take.' "The trend is always making excuses. Doc, we get it. Taking over a team in the middle of a season is hard ... it's always an excuse. It's always throwing your team under the bus ... there's never accountability with that guy."

What excuses did Doc Rivers make? 

After the Bucks fired Griffin, it was quickly understood that Rivers would take over as the next head coach. However, Rivers had set the expectations low before even starting.

"I've never [taken over a team mid-season]," Rivers said. "I wouldn't wish this on anyone. It's going to be a challenge."

On Feb. 15, the Bucks lost to a young and injury-riddled Memphis Grizzlies squad. Rivers said after the loss: "We had some guys here, some guys in Cabo."

A few days later during the All-Star weekend, Rivers explained why he didn't want to take over until after the All-Star break, citing it as a smoother transition.

"Taking a job when you’re about to go on the toughest road trip of the season is not the smartest decision," Rivers said. "I even told them that: ‘Can we wait ‘til All-Star break?’ You know, it would have been a lot nicer."

After all this, Rivers went on "The Starting Line" an NBA show on Sirius XM NBA radio hosted by Frank Isola and Ryan McDonough. Rivers added that he didn't understand why they fired Griffin to begin with.

"Personally, I'll be honest, I told [Bucks] ownership when they called, 'I don't understand why you're doing this,'" Rivers said.

Redick, who is now an ESPN analyst and broadcaster, was sick of the excuses and aired his grievances on "First Take."

Patrick Beverley, Austin Rivers defend Doc Rivers

Months before Rivers responded to Redick's criticism, his son Austin and Bucks guard Patrick Beverley took a stance defending the long-time NBA head coach.

Beverley, who the Bucks acquired via a trade with the 76ers in February, stood up for his new coach by saying Rivers "saved" Redick's career.

MORE: NBA suspends Patrick Beverley for throwing ball at a fan

Of course, Redick didn't let this slide and quickly spit back at Beverley on X. Redick averaged 12.8 points per game on 41.5 percent from 3 in his career.

Austin Rivers also came to his dad's defense, calling it "ironic" that Redick has this animosity toward his former coach despite playing his best years under him. In his four seasons with the Clippers, Redick averaged 15.8 points per game on 46.6 percent from the field and 44 percent from 3.

Draymond Green chimed in on this conversation via his Podcast, "The Draymond Green Show." The four-time NBA champion with the Golden State Warriors agreed with Redick and said Rivers was brought in to fix problems, not generate more excuses.

"You can't go make excuses now because you were actually brought in to fix those very things," Green said on his podcast. "You can't come and make the same excuses of the things that we already knew."

Why does JJ Redick have beef with Doc Rivers?

Redick's comments about holding Rivers' abundance of excuses and lack of accountability sparked multiple athletes, TV personalities, and thousands of fans to chime in on the conversation.

This isn't the first time Redick has had an issue with Rivers on this topic, however. On April 13, 2023, Rivers told Malika Andrews on NBA Today that his Clippers teams "were never going to win" because they "didn't get along well enough."

Redick and former Clippers teammate Jamal Crawford were surprised to hear that coming from their former coach. The Clippers lost twice in the first round and twice in the semifinals in Redick's four years there.

Both players brought up how the comments felt "weird," and Crawford felt as if Rivers was separating himself from the players to avoid taking accountability.

"Teams go through stuff," Crawford said on Redick's 'The Old Man & the Three' podcast. "I don't think there was a perfect team. Yeah, you want everyone on the same page. Yeah, you want everyone pulling in the same direction. But even those teams go through some stuff, and they still find a way [to win]."

Redick noted many of his former teammates from the Clippers took accountability for the lack of playoff success, but Rivers never did.

"Everybody I've talked to about it has kind of owned their own mistakes, if that makes sense," Redick said on his podcast. "And (they) realize, especially later on, that we still could have had something special. And to not get any of that accountability from him, and the interesting part, too, is he talked about players not getting along. He was brought in ... as a personality manager ... And he was the [general manager]. So, if people weren't getting along, it's kind of on you."

Brendan OSullivan

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