The Milwaukee Bucks are firing first-year head coach Adrian Griffin, sources told ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski on Tuesday.
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, sources said.
Veteran assistant Joe Prunty is expected to take over as interim coach, sources said. Milwaukee next hosts Cleveland on Wednesday.
Milwaukee hired Griffin over the summer to replace longtime coach Mike Budenholzer, who was fired after Milwaukee’s first-round exit last postseason. Months after the hire, the Bucks swung a blockbuster trade to acquire Damian Lillard — putting pressure on the franchise to win big this season.
The Bucks are 30-13 and entered Tuesday night’s games No. 2 in the Eastern Conference; that’s the best winning percentage for a team that fired its head coach during a season since David Blatt with the Cavaliers in 2015-16.
But despite the impressive record, the Bucks have struggled at times, particularly on defense. They’ve slipped from fourth on defense last season to 22nd this year and had just given up 141 and 122 points in back-to-back game against the Detroit Pistons.
Griffin, 49, had spent 16 seasons as an NBA assistant, including the last five with the Toronto Raptors. That followed a nine-year NBA playing career.
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