Bucks HC Doc Rivers Reacts to Bobby Portis Suspension, 'Bobby is Not a Drug User'

The Milwaukee Bucks survived their first game sans sixth man power forward/center Bobby Portis on Thursday night, besting the L.A. Clippers 116-110 at Fiserv Forum.

With Portis serving a 25-game suspension for violating the NBA's drug policy, Milwaukee head coach Doc Rivers opted to lean on rim-protecting new addition Jericho Sims, brought in via a minor trade with the New York Knicks. He took zero shots in 17:15 of action, but did supply a rebound and a foul and register a +9 plus-minus.

The win improved the Bucks to a 30-24 record on the season, now just a game behind behind the 31-23 Indiana Pacers for the Eastern Conference's No. 4 seed and homecourt advantage.

Milwaukee will be sorely missing Portis, a beloved locker room presence and a modern, floor-spacing big man who gooses the team's offense in the minutes All-NBA superstar Giannis Antetokounmpo, or 36-year-old starting center Brook Lopez sit.

It literally only takes 3 minutes of watching film to know that Bobby Portis isn’t passing the ball here 😭 pic.twitter.com/TQkg0d8dPR
— Follow HeavenlyBuckets (@Heavenlybuckets) January 16, 2025

"Bobby unintentionally took a pain medication called tramadol, thinking he was taking a pain medication called Toradol," his agent Mark Bartelstein told Shams Charania of ESPN. "Toradol is an approved pain medication that he has used previously and that teams and players use for pain and inflammation at times. Tramadol, however, is not an approved pain medication and was just recently added to the banned substance list this past spring. The tramadol pill he took came from an assistant of his, with a valid prescription for the painkiller, which he mistakenly told Bobby was Toradol."

Speaking with reporters about Portis' situation ahead of the Clippers win, Rivers defended the 2021 champ, as Eric Nehm of The Athletic details.

I asked Doc Rivers what the communication has been like between him and Bobby Portis today with the suspension being announced and here was his nearly three-minute response: pic.twitter.com/yVTrJeFLKa
— Eric Nehm (@eric_nehm) February 20, 2025

"Obviously, this [investigation] has been going on for a while," Rivers acknowledged. "And it's really, it bothers me in a lot of ways because Bobby - I want to make something clear - Bobby is not a drug user, alright? I hate that it just says that you flunked the drug policy."

Portis will unfortunately be dinged

"And so when people read that, the first place they go is the wrong place. This is as big a mistake as can be made," Rivers said. "And, so it bothers me on a lot of levels. I think as a league - I'm trying to steer close to the middle here - but just we gotta try to, rules are rules, I get it, I get it - but there are also human circumstances and common sense to me. And you know one thing Bobby's not is a cheater."

This season, Portis is averaging 13.7 points on .463/.364/.821 shooting splits, 8.3 rebounds, and 2.2 assists in his 46 available games for Milwaukee. At most, he'll suit up for 50 contests — which will effectively end his bid for a first-ever Sixth Man of the Year award this season. He's finished third in voting for each of the last two years.

"And so to me, that's where we have to try to figure out how to change this a little bit," Rivers said. "Because... when it's that close and it's clear, you can tell now from the blood samples, that that was the only time ever, you would think that we could something less severe. But we have this rule like if you do it, you're out, and that's the way it is."

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