NBA Rumors: ‘Good Chance’ Ex-Celtics Coach Doc Rivers Takes This Job

Doc Rivers apparently will spend time on NBA sidelines in the upcoming season, but not in a coaching role.

There’s a “good chance” Rivers, who was fired by the Philadelphia 76ers in mid-May, will join ESPN’s top NBA broadcast crew for the 2023-24 campaign, according to The Boston Globe’s Chad Finn. Rivers reportedly will work alongside longtime play-by-play voice Mike Breen and veteran analyst Doris Burke. ESPN needed to fill a vacancy on the team after laying off color commentator Jeff Van Gundy last month.

If Rivers does, indeed, put on a headset for the Worldwide Leader, it will mark his first NBA season without a coaching job since the 1998-99 campaign. The 61-year-old left a TV job with Turner and kicked off his coaching career with the Orlando Magic in 1999 and proceeded to serve stints with the Boston Celtics, Los Angeles Clippers and 76ers. Rivers, the 2000 Coach of the Year, won an NBA championship with the C’s in 2008.

Rivers also might not be the only member of his family with a new basketball gig this season. The longtime coach’s son, Austin, currently is a free agent and reportedly is drawing interest from the Celtics, whose guard depth took a hit when the organization traded Marcus Smart last month.