Milwaukee Bucks Fire Head Coach Adrian Griffin 43 Games into Season

Press release: NBA.com

The Milwaukee Bucks have fired coach Adrian Griffin after 43 games on the job. Milwaukee is 30-13 to tie the Minnesota Timberwolves for the league’s second-best record. The Bucks are 3 1/2 games behind the Boston Celtics in the Eastern Conference.

---

Next steps: Per ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, the Bucks are expected to make assistant coach Joe Prunty their interim coach. Prunty, a longtime assistant coach, has served previous interim stints in Milwaukee and Atlanta.

The dip in Milwaukee’s defensive performance had raised concerns about the Bucks’ viability as a championship contender even after they had acquired seven-time all-NBA guard Damian Lillard before the season to team up with two-time MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo. The Bucks rank 22nd in the NBA in defensive rating — down from fourth a year earlier — despite having two of the NBA’s top defenders in Giannis Antetokounmpo and 7-footer Brook Lopez.

Milwaukee had given Griffin his first head coaching job this summer after firing Mike Budenholzer, who led the Bucks in 2021 to their first title in half a century. The coaching change came after the top-seeded Bucks were stunned 4-1 by the Miami Heat in the first round of last season’s playoffs.

Griffin, 49, had spent 16 seasons as an NBA assistant, including the last five with the Toronto Raptors. That followed a nine-year NBA playing career.

Taking over a team with two members of the NBA’s 75th anniversary team in Antetokounmpo and Lillard put Griffin under a major spotlight at the beginning of his head coaching career. An early warning sign regarding Griffin’s tenure came before the season with the abrupt departure of assistant coach Terry Stotts.

Stotts had more than 1,000 games of head coaching experience, which figured to benefit Griffin as he began his own head coaching career. Stotts had called accepting the assignment a “no-brainer,” but he left the staff less than a week before the season opener.

Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.

Athlete of the Week and Team of the Week:

Nominate an athlete or team: HERE

**********************************************

Pancakes or Waffles!  We feature top area athletes with our world-renowned feature. Send us your nominations for who you’d like us to interview HERE

College Athlete Roundup! We want to recognize student-athletes from the area who are competing at the college level. Send us information on college athletes from the area with our simple form HERE

Where are they Now? We feature athletes and difference makers from the past, standouts in sports who excelled over the years and have moved on. Know of a former athlete, coach, or difference maker who we should feature? Know of a former standout competitor whose journey beyond central Wisconsin sports is one we should share? Send us information on athletes and difference makers of the past with our simple form HERE

Baked or Fried! We also feature difference makers throughout central Wisconsin: coaches, booster club leaders, administration, volunteers, you name it. Send us your nominations for who you’d like us to interview HERE