NBA
Milwaukee has narrowed its head coaching search to Nick Nurse, Kenny Atkinson, and Adrian Griffin
Zach Wolpin is an NBA and NFL expert who's been betting on the league for over three years now. Wolpin has been a fan of the NBA and has been watching for a decade and a half. He covers the latest news and stories surrounding the league daily. His passion in life is watching sports and being able to share that through his sports writing. He has written about the NBA and other sports leagues through various media outlets over the years like Sir Charles In Charge, G-Men HQ, and TAP into South Plainfield. Before he became an NBA News Writer, Wolpin attended Montclair State University where he graduated in 2021. He studied Sports Media and Writing while in school.
All posts by Zach WolpinUpdated22 May 2023
After the Milwaukee Bucks’ season much sooner than expected, the team fired head coach Mike Budenholzer shortly after. When situations like this happen, it’s usually the head coach that gets the raw end of the deal. Budenholzer likely didn’t deserve to be fired, but someone had to pay the price. Now, Milwaukee has narrowed its head coaching search to Nick Nurse, Kenny Atkinson, and Adrian Griffin.
There are a number of teams around the league that are in an active head coaching search. The Suns, Raptors, Pistons, and 76ers are all trying to find their next coach to run the team. Milwaukee was one of the first teams to fire their head coach this offseason, that’s because they didn’t make it past the first round.
ESPN Sources: The Bucks are narrowing group of top candidates in franchise’s head coaching search: Nick Nurse, Golden State assistant Kenny Atkinson and Toronto assistant Adrian Griffin. These coaches will be part of final conversations with Milwaukee leadership this week.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) May 22, 2023
Nick Nurse leads the list of the three final candidates for Milwaukee’s next head coach
The three final candidates are set to meet and have conversations with franchise leadership in the coming days. General Manager Joe Horst has had as many as 15 initial candidates he considered, but Nick Nurse, Kenny Atkinson, and Adrian Griffin are the final three to make the cut. Not only is Nurse an active candidate for Milwaukee’s vacant position, but the Suns and 76ers have a real interest as well.
Milwaukee’s next head coach is going to be taking over a stacked roster. The team still has almost all its pieces from the NBA Finals run in 2021. This past season, the Bucks owned the NBA’s best regular season record and earned the #1 seed in the East.
Nick Nurse was the head coach of the Toronto Raptors for five seasons. He won an NBA title in his first year as head coach and it could not have started better for him. Nurse was also the NBA Head Coach of the Year in 202o. Kenny Atkinson was last a head coach with the Brooklyn Nets from 2016-2020. Since then he’s been an assistant coach with the Golden State Warriors.
The Sixers will meet with Nick Nurse this week, per @PompeyOnSixers pic.twitter.com/xQvUR5N8sa
— NBACentral (@TheDunkCentral) May 19, 2023
Atkinson accepted Charlotte’s offer to be head coach before the start of last season but changed his mind to remain with the Warriors. Finally, Adrian Griffin has been one of the top assistant coaches in the NBA for the past few seasons. He has been a top head-coaching candidate for a few seasons now and his time is coming. Griffin has spent the last four years as an assistant coach with Nick Nurse’s coaching staff. Additionally, he coached for Oklahoma City, Orlando, and Chicago. He started his NBA coaching career as an assistant for two seasons (2008-2010) with the Bucks.
