Adrian Griffin Will Make More Money Coaching The Bucks For 43 Games Than He Did Over His Entire Nine-Year Playing Career

ByJoey Heldon January 26, 2024inArticles›Sports News

Earlier this week, the Milwaukee Bucks fired head coach Adrian Griffin . To the casual observer, the move seemed to come out of left field. The Bucks were 30-13 at the time of the firing, which was tied for the second-best record in the entire NBA. But there were a handful of warning signs along the way. Griffin’s top assistant, Terry Stotts , promptly resigned before the team’s final preseason game. Front office executives were coming to practices, watching Griffin closely. And the team even brought in Doc Rivers in an advisory role six weeks into the season.

Yes, the same Doc Rivers who just replaced Griffin as Milwaukee’s head coach.

Most notably, Griffin seemed to have lost control of the locker room. The staff and players realized he wasn’t the guy to bring them to a championship. You can argue if Rivers is that guy — head over to Reddit and Twitter, and people are already doing that — but he’s at least reached the NBA Finals twice, winning a title with the 2008 Boston Celtics.

Griffin should eventually find his way to another NBA bench, likely in an assistant coaching role. Even if he doesn’t, he’s going to make a ton of money from just seven months as the Bucks’ head coach.

Adrian Griffin Will Make More Money Coaching The Bucks For 43 Games Than He Did Over His Entire Nine - 1

Stacy Revere/Getty Images

At the time he signed, The Athletic reported Griffin’s deal was worth more than $4 million per season through 2026-27. That means the total value is worth north of $12 million. Unless the Bucks have some kind of buyout agreement in place, Griffin will receive his entire contract.

Per Basketball Reference , Griffin made a total of $7,544,728 in his nine NBA seasons. That page includes his salary during his first year as an assistant coach, which is irrelevant in this scenario, though coincidentally, Griffin’s first assistant job was with the Bucks.

The most Griffin made in a single season was during his final year in the league, earning $1,593,000. He only played in 35 games that season, appearing on the court for both the Chicago Bulls and Seattle Supersonics.

So, to recap: Griffin made slightly more than $7.5 million over nine years and 477 games. After being fired, he’ll get more than $12 million over three years and 43 games.

There’s probably a great lesson here about working smarter, not harder.

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The Phoenix Suns Are Paying Two Head Coaches Next Year — And Mike Budenholzer Is Making Money From Two Teams

ByJoey Heldon May 14, 2024inArticles›Sports News

The Phoenix Suns and Milwaukee Bucks didn’t have much of a shared history before the 2021 postseason. Sure, the teams played against each other every year, but there wasn’t really a rivalry or any bad blood between them. Then they met in the NBA Finals, which the Bucks won in six games after dropping the first two contests of the series.

Well, the Suns and Bucks now have something else in common: They’re both paying head coach Mike Budenholzer .

Budenholzer and the Suns agreed to a five-year deal worth a reported $50 million. Under those terms, Budenholzer will earn $10 million per season, which makes him one of the highest-paid coaches in the league. The hiring comes the same week as the firing of previous head coach Frank Vogel .

Adrian Griffin Will Make More Money Coaching The Bucks For 43 Games Than He Did Over His Entire Nine - 2

Patrick McDermott/Getty Images

Now, the Suns owe Vogel the remaining $24 million or so on his deal, as well as the $50 million for Budenholzer. Unless there’s an unreported clause in Vogel’s contract, Phoenix will pay about $16 million combined to both head coaches for the next four seasons, for a grand total of $64 million.

Vogel served as the Suns’ head coach for just one season. Despite a 49-33 record and a playoff appearance, new Suns owner Mat Ishbia wanted to make a change. He got the best head coach who isn’t already tied to a team.

Budenholzer, 54, won NBA Coach of the Year during the 2014-15 and 2018-19 seasons. He has previously been head coach of the Atlanta Hawks and the Bucks. His total record as a head coach is 484-317 across ten seasons. Before that, he served as an assistant coach under Gregg Popovich with the San Antonio Spurs for over a decade and a half.

Despite the 2021 championship, the Bucks fired Budenholzer after the 2022-23 season. The Bucks finished first in the Eastern Conference but lost in the first round to the No. 8 seed Miami Heat. Budenholzer still had $16 million and two years remaining on his deal, and the Bucks owed him all of that. He made $8 million this season and is due another $8 million next year. After the brief tenure of Adrian Griffin ended midseason and Doc Rivers replaced Griffin, the Bucks are currently paying three head coaches .

It’s possible Budenholzer’s buyout was negated after he signed with another team. However, with the way some of these contracts are worded, he very well may be making $18 million next year as both the Suns and Bucks pay guys not to coach for them.

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