Here's what fans should know about the Bucks' 3 reported coaching finalists (2023)

The Milwaukee Bucks are one step closer to choosing their next coach after the franchise reportedly narrowed its long list of candidates to a trio of finalists on Monday.

Nearly four weeks after firing Mike Budenholzer following a quick exit from the playoffs, Milwaukee’s short list includes Kenny Atkinson, Adrian Griffin and Nick Nurse according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski.

As the Bucks conduct final interviews in their search for the 17th coach in franchise history, here’s a closer look at the trio of candidates reportedly still under consideration.

Kenny Atkinson

Atkinson, who got his start in the league as an assistant with the New York Knicks during the 2008-09 season, wrapped up his 14th season on an NBA bench earlier this month. With Atkinson currently employed as an assistant for the Golden State Warriors on Steve Kerr’s staff, the Bucks had to request permission to interview the Huntington, New York, native.

Milwaukee was reportedly cleared to begin talks with Atkinson on May 10, two days before the Warriors saw their season end with a 122-101 loss to the Los Angeles Lakers, who won the best-of-seven Western Conference semifinals matchup 4-2.

Set to turn 56 years old on June 2, Atkinson has worked for five NBA teams during his career, also serving as an assistant for the Atlanta Hawks and Los Angeles Clippers, in addition to his lone stint as coach of the Brooklyn Nets from 2016-20. He’s worked under a series of successful coaches — with Kerr and former bosses Budenholzer and Tyronn Lue securing six of the last eight NBA titles.

His best season roaming the bench was the 2018-19 campaign when the Nets finished the 42-40 to snap a three-year playoff drought. The Nets defeated the Philadelphia 76ers 111-102 in his first playoff game, but they were eliminated in the opening round after the 76ers responded by winning the next four games.

In his first season at the helm in Brooklyn in 2016-17, Atkinson led a roster that included Bucks center Brook Lopez to a 20-62 record. Lopez, then in his ninth season with the Nets, averaged 20.5 points, 5.4 rebounds and 1.7 blocks while starting 75 of 82 games. After the Nets’ disappointing season, the 7-foot All-Star was traded to the Lakers along with forward Kyle Kuzma for center Timofey Mozgov and guard D’Angelo Russell.

Lopez, an unrestricted free agent this offseason after four seasons in Milwaukee, is expected to draw strong interest from other teams after earning a spot on the NBA’s All-Defensive first team, finishing second in defensive player of the year voting and leading the league in total blocks during the regular season with a career-high 193 while averaging 15.9 points, 6.7 rebounds and 2.6 blocks a game.

After the Warriors won the 2022 NBA title, Atkinson accepted the job as Charlotte Hornets coach and was expected to sign a four-year contract before he changed his mind and decided to return for a second season with Golden State.

Adrian Griffin

The 48-year-old Griffin is the only remaining candidate without NBA head coaching experience, but he’s also the only one of the three finalists who’s suited up in the league.

After making the NCAA Tournament in his first two seasons at Seton Hall under former NBA coach P.J. Carlesimo and averaging 11.5 points a game over his four seasons with the Pirates from 1992-96, the Wichita, Kansas, native went undrafted and began his professional playing career in Europe.

The 6-foot-5 wing was 25 years old when he made his NBA debut in November 1999 with the Boston Celtics. After two seasons with the Celtics, Griffin went on to play with four other teams — the Dallas Mavericks, Chicago Bulls, Houston Rockets and Seattle SuperSonics — before retiring in 2008 with career averages of 4.0 points, 3.2 rebounds and 1.4 assists per game.

Griffin reached the NBA Finals once as a player, coming up short with the Dallas Mavericks in 2006 as Shaquille O’Neal and Dwyane Wade led the Miami Heat to the franchise’s first championship.

After playing for a number of renown coaches, including Rick Pitino, Don Nelson, Jeff Van Gundy, Scott Skiles, Avery Johnson and Carlesimo, Griffin got his first job on an NBA coaching staff with the Bucks in 2008 as an assistant under Skiles, his former coach.

He reached the postseason once in his two seasons under Skiles with the Bucks before joining Tom Thibodeau’s staff in Chicago, where he made the playoffs five straight seasons as an assistant with the Bulls. He rejoined Skiles as an assistant with the Orlando Magic the following season and then moved on to Oklahoma City, where he reached the playoffs in each of his two seasons with the Thunder.

Griffin, currently an assistant with Toronto, joined the Raptors in 2018 as Nurse took the reins from Dwane Casey. The Raptors finished the 2018-19 regular season with a 58-24 record and went on to win the NBA title with a roster that included Kawhi Leonard.

The Raptors fired Nurse in April after missing the playoffs with a 41-41 record and the Bucks received permission from the Raptors less than three weeks later to interview Griffin.

Nick Nurse

The 55-year-old Nurse is the sole candidate with an NBA championship as a head coach after leading Leonard and the Raptors to the 2019 title in his first season at the helm.

Before taking over as coach in 2018, the Iowa native had spent five years as an assistant on Casey’s staff in Toronto. The Raptors made the playoffs each of those five seasons, with their high-water mark coming when they reached the Eastern Conference finals in 2016.

Nurse, who coached six seasons in the NBA’s developmental league before joining Toronto’s staff in 2013, went 227-163 (.582) in the regular season over his five seasons leading the Raptors.

He implemented a defensive scheme in the 2019 Eastern Conference finals to slow Antetokounmpo and the Raptors erased a 2-0 series deficit against the Bucks to reach the NBA Finals for the first time in franchise history.

Despite winning more than 50 regular-season games in both of his first two seasons in charge, Nurse’s teams combined for a .492 winning percentage over the last three seasons, losing in the first round in their sole playoff appearance in that stretch.

Nurse is expected to draw interest from other teams looking to fill coaching voids, with the Phoenix Suns, Philadelphia 76ers and Detroit Pistons joining the Bucks and Raptors in interviewing coaching candidates.