Adrian Griffin In Line To Replace Mike Budenholzer As The Milwaukee Bucks’ Head Coach

Less than a month after parting ways with one of the most successful head coaches in franchise history, the Milwaukee Bucks are expected to announce Toronto Raptors assistant Adrian Griffin as their replacement for Mike Budenholzer.

The decision was first reported by The Athletic and ESPN.com but has yet to be confirmed by team officials and marks Griffin’s return to Milwaukee, where his playing career ended following a three-team trade in 2008.

Griffin never played for the Bucks but joined head coach Scott Stiles’ staff as an assistant. He spent two years on Milwaukee’s bench before joining Tom Thibodeau’s staff with the Bulls in 2010. Skiles hired Griffin again when he took over the Orlando Magic
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in 2015 and after spending the following season in Oklahoma City, Griffin moved on to Toronto where he spent the last five seasons and helped guide the Raptors to the 2019 NBA Championship.

When officially announced, Griffin will become the 17th head coach in Bucks history and the third hired since the current ownership group led by Wes Edens, Mark Lasry (who recently sold his stake in the team to members of the Haslem family) and Jamie Dina purchased the team from former Wisconsin Sen. Herb Kohl in 2014.

Larry Drew had just wrapped up his first and only season when the sale was announced. The new owners replaced him with Jason Kidd who led a remarkable turnaround in his first season, taking a team that went a league-worst 15-67 under Drew to a 41-41 finish and a playoff berth.

Kidd’s tenure came to an end halfway through his fourth season, leaving Milwaukee with a 139-152 record. Assistant Joe Prunty led the team the rest of the way but was not retained after posting a 21-16 record.

Instead, Milwaukee handed the reigns to Budenholzer who led the team to the league’s best record three times in five seasons as well as its second championship in franchise history while compiling 217-120 record which marked the best wining percentage (.693) of any coach in team history.

But for all that success, the Bucks struggled during the playoffs under Budenholzer including 2019, when Milwaukee blew a 2-0 lead in the Eastern Conference Finals to Griffin’s Raptors.

The Bucks were knocked out in the second round during the 2020 bubble playoffs but after winning the 2021 title, were ousted in the conference semifinals by Boston then were stunned in a first round upset by Miami this season.