The Milwaukee Bucks have reached agreement with Mike Budenholzer to become the team’s new head coach, sources told ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski.
Mike Budenholzer has reached an agreement to become the Milwaukee Bucks coach, league sources tell ESPN.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) May 16, 2018
Budenhozler reportedly dined with star players Giannis Antetokounmpo and Khris Middleton in Milwaukee on Wednesday, just hours before the ESPN.com report was released.
The Bucks wanted the two players — especially Antetokounmpo, the franchise star — to have a sense of the prospective next Bucks coach and encouraged the players to sit down with Milwaukee’s preferred candidate before the organization extended a formal offer, league sources said.
It is a relatively unprecedented move in a head-coaching search, but it clearly reflects the Bucks’ determination to make Antetokounmpo and Middleton feel a part of the process.
Budenholzer, who left the Hawks in April after spending five seasons with the team, was named the NBA’s Coach of the Year in 2015. During that campaign he guided his team to a 60-win season, proving his worth as leader, mentor and mastermind of the game.
Budenholzer met with the Toronto Raptors this week for a potential head coaching job, but Toronto never made him a formal offer, according to Wojnarowski. He signed a four-year deal with the Bucks instead, and is expected to bring some assistant coaches from Atlanta to Milwaukee.
