Mike Budenholzer is now officially out as Milwaukee Bucks‘ head coach. The report was confirmed by ESPN's NBA guru Adrian Wojnarowski on Thursday, who reported that Milwaukee has come to this drastic decision after their first-round exit to the No. 8 seed Miami Heat in the NBA Playoffs.
This decision had been a long time coming, with previous reports already indicating that Budenholzer's job security was nowhere near safe following his failure to lead Giannis Antetokounmpo and Co. past the opening round. However, it was also later revealed that Coach Bud was actually dealing with a heartbreaking family tragedy during the Heat series. Apparently, one of his three brothers died just before Game 4 in Miami on April 24th.
This tragic development has led to the mean streets of Twitter blatantly calling out the Bucks organization for firing Budenholzer just 10 days after his brother's death:
All jokes aside tho this coming so soon after his brother death is just in bad taste.
— 優木せつ菜 🇦🇷 (@nijigasakilove) May 4, 2023
Not even 2 weeks since his brother passed😭
— KingsMuse (@kings_muse) May 4, 2023
This will be tough for Mike Budenholzer. Lost a loved one and then got fired after. You can’t have your best player Giannis miss 13 free throws and I think he went 1-9 in the 4th/OT and expect the team to win especially him tossing the ball because he didn’t want to go to the…
— Ball Room Service🏀 (@ballroomservice) May 4, 2023
AFTER HIS BROTHER DIED?!?!
— Holden (@holdenowen44) May 4, 2023
Daaamnnn. Optics are bad, but it was time.
Forever grateful for Bud. Thank you for the 1st championship in 50 years. Lots of love and respect for him.
— WISCODSIN (@Wiscodsin) May 4, 2023
Bro had a family member die and they fired him
— Nick (@NotoriousFNTSY) May 4, 2023
My man’s brother died during the 1st round and he still coached through. Rewarded this way.. what an organization.
— Mike Rojas (@trufflehustler) May 4, 2023
The general sentiment on social media is that this move had to be done after this failure of a season from the Bucks. However, a lot of folks are questioning the timing of the decision, considering how it hasn't even been two weeks since coach Bud's brother died. Moreover, this abrupt decision also seems to overlook the fact that Budenholzer still opted to remain with the team and coach them through Games 4 and 5 instead of being with his family during this tragic time.
According to reports, Budenholzer's brother died in a car accident. Our thoughts and prayers go out to the Budenholzer family.
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