Bucks finalizing deal with Raptors’ Adrian Griffin as head coach

MILWAUKEE(AP) — The Milwaukee Bucks are finalizing a deal to make AdrianGriffin their head coach after he spent the last five seasons as aToronto Raptors assistant, a person familiar with the situationtold The Associated Press.

The personspoke to the AP on condition of anonymity Saturday because the dealwas still being completed.

Griffin wouldreplace Mike Budenholzer,whowas firedearlier this month after the top-seededBucks’stunningloss to the Miami Heatin the first round of theplayoffs.

Griffin hadbeen an assistant on a Toronto staff headed by NickNurse,whowas firedlast month after the end of the Raptors’ season.Griffin was an assistant on the Raptors’ 2019NBAchampionship teamthat beat the Bucks in the EasternConference finals.

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

His hiringwould enable Griffin to return to the place where he started hiscoaching career.

The48-year-old was a Bucks assistant from 2008-10 when Scott Skileswas Milwaukee’s head coach. Griffin began that first Milwaukeecoaching stint after anine-year NBA playingcareerthat included stops with the Boston Celtics, DallasMavericks, Houston Rockets, Chicago Bulls and SeattleSuperSonics.

He also wasan assistant at Chicago, Orlando and Oklahoma City before joiningToronto’s staff.

Griffin’stask would be to make sure the Bucksavoidthe early playoff exitsthat ended their last two seasonsas they deal with a potentially narrowing championship window.

Two-time MVPGiannis Antetokounmpo, who finishedthirdin this year’s MVP balloting,has two years plus a 2025-26player option remaining in thesupermaxdealhe signed in December 2020. Antetokoumpo is eligibleto sign an extension in September.

Brook Lopez,the runner-up to Memphis’ Jaren Jackson Jr. in the NBA defensiveplayer of the year voting, is a free agent. Three-time All-StarKhris Middleton also could become a free agent as well if hedoesn’t pick up his $40.4 million player option for the upcomingseason.

Antetokounmpois 28 years old, but most of the Bucks’ other key players are wellinto their 30s. Lopez is 35, All-Star guard Jrue Holiday turns 33on June 12 and Middleton turns 32 on Aug. 12.

Budenholzerled the Bucks to a league-best 271-120 regular-season record in hisfive seasons and coached the 2020-21 Bucks to their first NBA titlesince 1971. But with the notable exception of that championshiprun, the Bucks couldn’t match their regular-seasonsuccessinthe postseason.

The Bucks hada league-best 58-24 regular-season record this year but fell 4-1 tothe Miami Heat in the opening round of the playoffs. They were justthe sixth No. 1 seed to lose to a No. 8 seed in the opening round,and the only No. 1 seed that failed to win more than one playoffgame.

Budenholzeralso led Milwaukee to the league’s best regular-season record in2018-19 and 2019-20. The Bucks blew a 2-0 lead and lost 4-2 in the2019 Eastern Conference finals to a Toronto team that includedGriffin on the coaching staff. The Bucks fell 4-1 to Miami in thesecond round in 2020.

The 2020-21Milwaukee team had the No. 3 seed in the Eastern Conference andlost a seven-game, second-round series to the Boston Celtics.

Milwaukeeplayed that entire series against Boston without Middleton, who hada sprained medial collateral ligament in his left knee. In theseries against Miami this year, Antetokounmpo left Game 1 early andmissed all of Games 2 and 3 with a bruised lower back.