Doc Rivers Calls Out Shams Charania Retaliation Amidst Giannis Antetokounmpo Rumors

Doc Rivers has come under the spotlight after ESPN's Shams Charania revealed controversial details about his management style.

Doc Rivers Calls Out Shams Charania Retaliation Amidst Giannis Antetokounmpo Rumors

Doc Rivers, Giannis Antetokounmpo, and Shams Charania (Image via FirstSportz)

In Short
  • Doc Rivers accused Shams Charania of seeking revenge after a joke about trading him.
  • Rivers clarified that his comments about his resume were taken out of context.
  • He expressed a desire for former ESPN insider Adrian Wojnarowski to return, citing his credibility.

Over the past several months, three individuals have often been a part of the same narrative. They are Milwaukee Bucks superstar Giannis Antetokounmpo, head coach Doc Rivers, and ESPN’s lead insider Shams Charania.

The latter has been at the forefront of all the stories developing about ‘The Greek Freak’ and his supposed intentions to leave the franchise that drafted him.

Charania reported that the two-time league MVP wanted to move after growing frustrated with the front office’s lack of effort to build a contender around him.

In the midst of all this, Antetokounmpo and Doc Rivers had time and again maintained that neither had the superstar forward asked to be traded, and that the team was interested in entertaining offers. Despite that, the ESPN insider has insisted that the forward wants to leave.

Recently, a bombshell report emerged from Shams Charania’s X page that Doc Rivers had flexed his resume to the team, and that the players did not take it well. When the latter appeared on Run It Back, they asked him about it.

I made a joke before All-Star, where I said, ‘Giannis should trade Shams.’ Shams took that so personally that he actually called the Bucks and yelled at them to take it down. The NBA called the Bucks and is like, ‘Shams wants us to tell you this, but we really don’t care.’ And then the NBA posted it! I’ve heard from 10 different people that Shams is going to do a revenge article on you guys and on you.

Doc Rivers replied

Hearing this, surprisingly, Michelle Beadle agreed with the soon-to-be Hall of Fame head coach that her former colleague was ‘young’ and a bit ‘tightly wound-up,’ and could not take a joke.

Doc Rivers clarifies his ‘resume flex’

While talking to the folks at Run It Back, former three-time Sixth Man of the Year, Lou Williams, picked up the ‘Google me’ topic that has become the talking point surrounding the Bucks. To this, Doc Rivers said:

That was taken so out of context… I had a guy that kept talking about his stats. I was basically saying the same thing, ‘Well, I have stats too.’

Rivers said
Giannis Antetokounmpo and Doc Rivers
Giannis Antetokounmpo and Doc Rivers (Image via Barstool Sports/X)

The head coach, who happens to be exactly twice as old as Shams Charania, made it clear that he said it to shut one of his players from yapping too much about himself.

He was taking a leaf out of Indiana Hoosiers’ football head coach Curt Cignetti’s playbook. Going by the 2008 NBA Championship-winning coach’s words, it seems he is suggesting that the ESPN Insider used that half-information to write the hit piece about him.

Doc Rivers wishes Adrian Wojnarowski continued to work

As they continued to talk about the various rumors associated with the Milwaukee Bucks, Doc Rivers was again asked about his relationship with leading superstar Giannis Antetokounmpo.

We have a great relationship. You know, Shams wrote an article that was so inaccurate that I don’t have enough time to go into. He talked about a locker room thing, and I was laughing… Where’s Woj? I miss Woj so much.

Rivers replied

This was the Bucks’ head coach essentially hoping that former ESPN lead NBA Insider Adrian Wojnarowski was still working. That may be because Doc Rivers knows that the now St. Bonaventure General Manager was a class act.

He would never write something like this unless he had concrete proof. More importantly, Rivers knows that Woj would not like to exact revenge, unlike what his successor and former rival, Shams Charania, is doing.

Now that the head coach is calling the biggest sports network’s lead basketball insider out with such accusations, it may force the 32-year-old to come up with a response, or another story confirming his sources.

It seems controversy will not likely leave the Milwaukee Bucks, Doc Rivers, Shams Charania, and Giannis Antetokounmpo for some time.

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