Source: Maddie Meyer / Getty
The Milwaukee Bucks may be second in the Eastern Conference –behind only the Boston Celtics— but the franchise still isn’t satisfied.
With a 30-13 record, the Bucks fired head coach Adrian Griffin. ESPN’s NBA Insider Adrian Wojnarowski revealed that with the head coaching job up for grabs, veteran assistant Joe Prunty will take the interim role.. with an emphasis on interim. The team has its sights set on getting a big name to return to the front of the bench.
“The Bucks are planning to quickly pursue a small pool of accomplished and available veteran head coaches — with Doc Rivers near the top of the list,” reports ESPN.
Upon the news breaking, Buck General Manager Jon Hurst explained that while he knows a midseason firing isn’t ideal, he’s already looking ahead.
“This was a difficult decision to make during the season,” said Horst. “We are working immediately toward hiring our next head coach. We thank Coach Griffin for his hard work and contributions to the team.”
Griffin wasn’t on staff very long, having just been hired last summer to replace NBA stalwart Mike Budenholzer after he capped off his 5-year post as head coach with a first-round exit after a surprising gentlemen’s sweep by Jimmy Butler’s Miami Heat.
Before his first season coaching began, Griffin was blessed to initiate a trade that landed him Damian Lillard, and team brass hoped that it would give him no excuse to underperform during the 2023-2024 season.
But despite a pretty successful season thus far, they haven’t been able to produce results on the defensive end of the ball, ranking 22nd in the league. And that’s pretty lackluster, given the Greek Freak-led squad — assisted by 7-footer Brook Lopez’s presence– ranked fourth just a year ago.
They even allowed the league’s punching bag, the Detroit Pistons, to score 113 points last night.
Social media is questioning the Bucks’ decision and Giannis’ (and his brother Thanasis’) role in the surprising firing. See the reactions below.
