Milwaukee Bucks set to hire Raptors’ Adrian Griffin as head coach – reports

The Milwaukee Bucks are finalizing a deal to make Adrian Griffin their head coach after he spent the last five seasons as a Toronto Raptors assistant, a person familiar with the situation told The Associated Press.

The person spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity Saturday because the deal was still being completed.

Griffin would replace Mike Budenholzer, who was fired earlier this month after the top-seeded Bucks’ stunning loss to the Miami Heat in the first round of the playoffs.

Griffin had been an assistant on a Toronto staff headed by Nick Nurse, who was fired last month after the end of the Raptors’ season. Griffin was an assistant on the Raptors’ 2019 NBA championship team that beat the Bucks in the Eastern Conference finals.

ESPN and the Athletic first reported the Bucks’ selection of Griffin.

His hiring would enable Griffin to return to the place where he started his coaching career.

The 48-year-old was a Bucks assistant from 2008 through 2010 when Scott Skiles was Milwaukee’s head coach. Griffin began that first Milwaukee coaching stint after a nine-year NBA playing career that included stops with the Boston Celtics, Dallas Mavericks, Houston Rockets, Chicago Bulls and Seattle SuperSonics.

He also was an assistant at Chicago, Orlando and Oklahoma City before joining Toronto’s staff.

Griffin’s task would be to make sure the Bucks avoid the early playoff exits that ended their last two seasons as they deal with a potentially narrowing championship window.

Two-time MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo, who finished third in this year’s MVP balloting, has two years plus a 2025-26 player option remaining in the supermax deal he signed in December 2020. Antetokoumpo is eligible to sign an extension in September.

Brook Lopez,