Already without Giannis Antetokounmpo, the Milwaukee Bucks took another hit just hours before tip-off. As they prepare to face the league-leading Oklahoma City Thunder, Milwaukee won’t have head coach Doc Rivers on the sideline. Rivers is away from the team attending a funeral, leaving the Bucks without both their franchise cornerstone and their lead voice in the huddle.

The team has elevated assistant Darvin Ham to serve as interim head coach for the night, tasking him with steering a short-handed group against the NBA’s top squad.

As many fans might know, Ham is hardly an unfamiliar face for the Bucks, serving as a key assistant on the coaching staff from 2018 to 2022, helping deliver a championship in 2021. He’s also the only member of the staff with NBA head-coaching experience, leading a Los Angeles Lakers team that reached the Western Conference Finals.

Ham has made it to the Conference Finals four times in his coaching career, as an assistant with the Los Angeles Lakers (2011-2013) and the Atlanta Hawks (2013-2018), before his stops in Milwaukee and his head coaching gig with the Lakers.

Ham began this most recent tenure with the Bucks after being hired by Rivers in the 2024 offseason to revamp his coaching staff after Rivers’ midseason hiring during the 2023-24 season. Now, he faces a tougher challenge than he usually does.

While head coach absences due to personal matters are uncommon in the NBA, they are not unprecedented. Notably, Gregg Popovich of the San Antonio Spurs missed the majority of the 2024-25 season after suffering a mild stroke in early November 2024; assistant Mitch Johnson filled in during his indefinite absence, allowing the Spurs to navigate the campaign while Popovich focused on recovery.

No Doc Rivers or Giannis Antetokounmpo as Bucks Rely on Depth Against Thunder

The final meeting of the season between the Milwaukee Bucks and the OKC Thunder is going to look a lot different than the first one, especially with both teams missing their superstars.

Tonight, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, who scored 40 points on that late January night, sat for his fifth straight game following an abdominal strain, while Giannis Antetokounmpo missed his ninth matchup following a calf strain diagnosis.

Despite the absences, both teams have found ways to steady themselves. The Thunder have won back-to-back games, including a 136-109 road win over the Phoenix Suns, while the Bucks have won four of their last five, most recently beating the Orlando Magic 116-108 yesterday.

Role players and new additions have been at the heart of the step up for both teams. Ousmane Dieng, who returns to OKC after being traded at the deadline, went off for a season-high 17 points in his second game for the Bucks, joining Cam Thomas, who put up 34 off the bench and was praised by Doc Rivers.

Meanwhile, the Thunder have successfully integrated sophomore guard Jared McCain into their rotation amid multiple injuries to key players, with coach Mark Daigneault noting that his fit with OKC has been as seamless as it could be.