Doc Rivers Should Shut Up and Coach -- Or Get His Facts on ICE Straight

Milwaukee Bucks coach Doc Rivers maintains that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) randomly targets brown people and commits "murder."

"I look at our league and I think Hakeem Olajuwon could have been taken off the streets," Rivers told OutKick on Sunday during a pre-game press conference. "Right now, brown people feel that only brown people would be taken off the streets. And that is not right and it is not morally right."

Rivers later clarified his comment about Olajuwon, a Nigerian American, and said even brown people who are legal U.S. citizens should be afraid.

"We all should be worried," Rivers added. "Tom Homan, who was the head of DHS, has said they’re targeting people by their color and if they can speak the language. If you’re brown, you’re nervous because I don’t see anybody going into the Ukrainian villages and arresting anybody. All we can go by is what we see."

For background, Rivers referred to the shooting of Renee Nicole Good in Minnesota as "murder" on January 9. The problem: murder is a specific legal term. Based on the available evidence, the ICE agent who shot Good almost certainly did not commit legal murder. Federal officials have repeatedly described the shooting as self-defense.

And yet, not a single reporter in the room challenged Rivers on his misuse of the term.

OutKick submitted a credential request days later and was repeatedly denied access to Bucks events. The team finally credentialed OutKick late last week after we asked the NBA for comment on the denial. Since Friday, OutKick has asked Rivers and Warriors coach Steve Kerr about their statements regarding ICE. Kerr apologized and corrected himself. Rivers did not.

And that is unacceptable.

Doc Rivers is the head coach of one of just 30 NBA teams. His voice reaches millions of fans, many of whom do not closely follow immigration policy or federal law enforcement procedures. A reasonable listener could walk away from hearing Rivers believing that ICE agents are randomly murdering brown people. That is an extraordinary claim, for which there is no evidence.

Rivers also misrepresented Tom Homan’s remarks. Homan never said he instructed agents to target people with brown skin color. In a July interview with Fox News, Homan said officers may briefly detain and question individuals based on the totality of the circumstances. He listed physical appearance among several factors, along with location, occupation, and behavior. Days later, he clarified that physical description alone does not justify detention.

"I want to be clear about that again, because my words were taken out of context," Homan told CNN on July 13. "Physical description cannot be the sole reason to detain and question somebody. That can’t be the sole reason to raise reasonable suspicion. It’s a myriad of factors."

So why is Rivers misquoting Homan seven months later while speaking to a national audience? 

It is unclear whether Rivers is grossly misinformed or willfully partisan. Either way, his comments and refusal to correct them highlight a larger problem.

MILWAUKEE, WISCONSIN - DECEMBER 31: Head coach Doc Rivers of the Milwaukee Bucks looks on against the Washington Wizards during the first quarter at Fiserv Forum on December 31, 2025 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Patrick McDermott/Getty Images)

The NBA routinely positions its most recognizable figures as moral authorities on political and social issues. But no honest person turns to Doc Rivers, Steve Kerr, or LeBron James for careful, sourced analysis of immigration enforcement or criminal law.

At best, these interventions divide audiences. At worst, they spread incendiary misinformation.

Sports once served as a unifying force. In recent years, the NBA has increasingly done the opposite. The league has lost more than half its viewership since its peak in the early 2010s, a decline that multiple surveys found was a response to years of one-sided political messaging and activism. As OutKick founder Clay Travis argues, the NBA was the original Bud Light.

There's no balance to the conversation.

While Rivers disparages law enforcement, no NBA coach or player will dare offer the counterargument. And there is a counterargument to his claims, such as Good's role in the shooting and Democratic leaders' inflaming tensions and chaos for political gain.

Most notably, ICE seeks to deport illegal immigrants whom Joe Biden allowed to enter the country without documentation as part of a historically damning border policy.

If the NBA insists on operating as a political actor, then its most prominent voices have a responsibility to be accurate, precise, and accountable. On this issue, Doc Rivers and the NBA failed on all three.

Unless Rivers can get his facts straight, he ought to shut up and coach.