Before the Bucks game against the Sacramento Kings in Milwaukee on Saturday, Milwaukee coach Doc Rivers spoke about SNAP benefits. Matt Krohn / USA TODAY Sports via Imagn Images

MILWAUKEE —After finishing his pregame media availability for his team’s Saturday afternoon contest against the Sacramento Kings, Milwaukee Bucks head coach Doc Rivers remained seated in front of the microphone and delivered a message about something other than basketball.

“The SNAP programs around the country — and especially in Wisconsin, because that’s where I’m at right now — are going to get delayed and this is for Republicans and Democrats, we’re talking about kids not getting food,” Rivers said. “And that should never happen.”

SNAP, Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, benefits have become a major topic of conversation as the United States government shutdown nears the one-month mark and 42 million low-income Americans are expected to lose access to food assistance through SNAP on Nov. 1 as the Trump administration had initially refused to tap reserve funds.

“We’re talking about kids not getting food. And that should never happen.”

Doc Rivers speaks on child hunger. pic.twitter.com/HO2D29vMnC

— Milwaukee Bucks (@Bucks) November 1, 2025

On Friday, a federal judge ordered that the Trump administration must pay SNAP benefits during the government shutdown, but Trump warned after the ruling that those benefits paid in November would “unfortunately be delayed.”

“I don’t want to hear about ‘people are cheating the program’ and all that crap,” Rivers continued in his impassioned two-minute statement. “A six-year-old, seven-year-old kid is cheating nothing and we are going to cheat the kids if we don’t take care of this. Our Republican and Democratic senators and the government have not done their jobs and so, the problem is the kids have to pay and that’s ridiculous.

“I think everyone, there’s food banks, all kinds of places that we can donate money. We should. I am, I can tell you that. I’m telling my players to. I’m asking everyone to and this should not be a political thing. This should not be about being a Republican or a Democrat right now, this is about our kids. And finally on that, truancy and hunger are the two biggest issues for kids learning in school, literally.

“They have proven that a kid can be in the worst area in the world, literally the worst area, but if he can just get to school and eat, he can learn. So, we have to make sure that we feed our kids. And we can drop all the other stuff, figure it out all later, but we gotta feed our kids.”

This is not the first time that Rivers has commented on a societal issue from the pregame podium this season. Before the Bucks took on the Chicago Bulls in their third preseason game, Rivers denounced the mass arrests being conducted by the United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in his hometown.

The 64-year-old head coach has regularly used his platform as an NBA head coach to comment on political and societal issues throughout his 27-year NBA coaching career and frequently posts about those same topics on social media.

Nov 1, 2025

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Eric Nehm is a senior writer for The Athletic covering the Milwaukee Bucks. Previously, he covered the Bucks at ESPN Milwaukee and wrote the book “100 Things Bucks Fans Should Know & Do Before They Die.” Nehm was named NSMA’s 2022 Wisconsin Sports Writer of the Year. Follow Eric on Twitter @eric_nehm