The Milwaukee Bucks have fired head coach Adrian Griffin after just 43 games, according to multiple reports, despite having one of the best records in the league midway through the season.
Milwaukee is tied with the Minnesota Timberwolves for the second-best record in the league at 30-13. The Bucks are second in the Eastern Conference, 3.5 games behind the Boston Celtics.
But the Bucks’ decline in defensive performance has raised concerns about the Bucks’ viability as a championship contender, even though they added seven-time All-NBA guard Damian Lillard before the season, along with two Partnered with reigning MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo. The Bucks rank 22nd in the NBA in defensive efficiency, down from fourth a year ago.
Milwaukee gave Griffin his first head coaching job this summer after firing Mike Budenholzer. Budenholzer led the Bucks to their first championship in half a century in 2021. The coaching change comes after the top-seeded Bucks suffered a 4-1 defeat to the Miami Heat in the first round of last season’s playoffs.
Griffin, 49, served as an assistant in the NBA for 16 seasons, including the last five seasons with the Toronto Raptors. Prior to that, he had spent nine years as an NBA player.
Taking over a team composed of Antetokounmpo and Lillard, two members of the NBA’s 75th Anniversary Team, Griffin attracted attention at the beginning of his coaching career. Griffin’s tenure came with a warning sign before the season began with the sudden departure of assistant coach Terry Stotts.
Stotts has more than 1,000 games of head coaching experience, which will be a boon for Griffin as he begins his head coaching career. Stotts called taking the assignment “a no-brainer,” but he left the staff less than a week before the season opener.
