The Milwaukee Bucks have parted ways with head coach Mike Budenholzer, the organization confirmed on Thursday evening.
The 53-year-old head coach, who has been with the team since 2018 and won Coach of the Year, was dismissed after the top-seeded Bucks were eliminated in the first round, suffering a shocking 4-1 loss at the hands of the No. 8-seeded Miami Heat.
While the Bucks did finish first in the Eastern Conference in three of Budenholzer's seasons, their regular season success didn’t always translate to the postseason. The Bucks were eliminated from the postseason in the Eastern Conference semifinals twice and blew a 2-0 series lead to the Toronto Raptors in the 2019 Eastern Conference finals.
During the team's first-round playoff series against the Heat, Budenholzer shared that one of his three brothers died right before Game 4, which also added to the sting of his firing.
The news of Budenholzer's firing sent NBA Twitter into an immediate frenzy:
Budenholzer, who won a championship with the team during the 2020-21 NBA season, was 271-120 in regular season games but went 39-26 in the postseason over the course of those five seasons.
Budenholzer was also the head coach of the Atlanta Hawks for five seasons (where he went 230-219 overall and won Coach of the Year) and an assistant coach for the San Antonio Spurs from 1996-2013.