Shams Charania isn’t filling the boots left behind by Adrian Wojnarowski, according to Doc Rivers.
The Bucks’ coach wasn’t too keen on ESPN’s NBA insider’s latest reporting about his struggling Milwaukee squad, which is embroiled in controversy over the status of star forward Giannis Antetokounmpo and how his coach has handled things.
Charania reported that Rivers gave a lengthy speech to the team after a March 1 blowout loss to the Bulls, where the coach was quoted as saying he knows “everything that goes on in this building.”
“Either you’re with us or against us,” ESPN reported Rivers saying. “If you’re not playing hard, we’re not playing you anymore.”
Rivers called Charania’s “so inaccurate that I don’t even have enough time to go into it” in a recent television appearance on “Run it Back.”
“The first thing I thought of was, ‘Where’s Woj?’ I miss Woj so much,” Rivers continued while laughing. “Yeah, we had a tough locker room day. We lost to the Chicago Bulls with a 20-point lead. I showed clips the next day of guys who were screwing up. That’s what happens in a locker room.”
Rivers did say that he and Antetokounmpo have a great relationship and there’s no strife between them.
The same cannot be said for Antetokounmpo and the front office, who are at odds over why he is not playing in the team’s final games when the team is not in contention to make the playoffs.
Charania and Rivers have feuded throughout the year, with Rivers joking that Charania was going to be traded by Antetokounmpo from the NBA Celebrity All-Star team.
Antetokounmpo served as the team’s coach, and Rivers also pointed out that his comments upset Charania to the extent that he complained to multiple individuals.
Rivers also said he’s heard that Charania has him in his crosshairs.
“Shams took that so personal that he actually called the Bucks and yelled at them to take that down,” Rivers said. “Then the NBA called the Bucks, it was a mess, ‘Shams wants us to tell you this, but we really don’t care.’ And then NBA posted it. I’ve heard from 10 different people that said, ‘Oh, Shams is going to do a revenge article on you guys and you. And I was like, ‘OK, I don’t care.’ “
Charania joined ESPN after Wojnarowski retired as a lead reporter for ESPN to take the general manager job at his alma mater, St. Bonaventure.
Milwaukee sits at 31-49 as the regular season comes to a close, where Rivers, at least in the eyes of ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith, could be coaching his final games with the team.
