Earlier this week, the Milwaukee Bucks sent shockwaves throughout the NBA landscape when it was announced that they would be firing head coach Adrian Griffin after just a few months with the organization. The Bucks initially hired Griffin back in June of 2023, months before the team ultimately traded for star point guard Damian Lillard, who has been a bit up and down thus far in his Milwaukee tenure.

Now, more light is being shed on how that high profile acquisition changed the outlook on the Bucks as it pertained to Griffin himself.

“It was explained to me that when they hired Adrian Griffin they didn’t know at the time, remember that was a hire in June of 2023, they did not know if they were going to bring back Khris Middleton, he was going to be a free agent, he had that option, they didn’t know if Brook Lopez was going to re-sign, they didn’t know what Giannis was going to do, if he was going to sign an extension,” said NBA insider Chris Haynes of Bleacher Report on the #thisleague UNCUT podcast. “He had some comments in certain articles out there about I can win here or I can win elsewhere. You just didn’t know where he was leaning towards pertaining to his future. So they felt very comfortable at the time hiring Adrian Griffin, somebody who hadn’t been a head coach yet in the NBA. Then when they had the opportunity to trade for Dame and they did, that changed things.”

The Bucks next take the floor against the Cleveland Cavaliers on January 27.