Two veteran head coaches emerge as candidates for Bucks' HC job

The Milwaukee Bucks have reportedly formed a short list of candidates to fill their vacant head-coaching job. Two intriguing names from that list have emerged.

The Bucks on Tuesday fired Adrian Griffin just 43 games into his first season as the their head coach.

The Bucks reportedly have one prominent name as their top choice to replace Griffin. But that doesn’t mean they’re closing off their coaching search.

According to Bleacher Report’s Chris Haynes, former NBA head coaches Jeff Van Gundy and Nate McMillan are on the Bucks’ radar.

Van Gundy served as the head coach of the New York Knicks and Houston Rockets for a combined 11 seasons from 1995 to 2007. He led the Knicks to the NBA Finals during the lockout-shortened 1998-99 campaign. The 62-year-old former coach has just one losing season on his resume with a cumulative record of 430-318.

After getting fired by ESPN last year, Van Gundy has been working with another East contender.

McMillan has 19 years of head-coaching experience. He last coached the Atlanta Hawks up until the 2022-23 season before being fired midway through the year due to reported differences with a certain All-Star guard.

The former NBA point guard also coached the Portland Trail Blazers for seven seasons up until the year before Damian Lillard’s arrival as a rookie out of Weber State. McMillan has a career coaching record of 760-668.