Mike Budenholzer’s Firing Continues Bad Luck Run for NBA Champion Coaches

The Bucks just won an NBA title two seasons ago with the coach.

The Bucks fired coach Mike Budenholzer on Thursday following their first-round exit from the NBA playoffs.

While some fans were shocked that Milwaukee would part ways with their coach just two years after the team won the NBA title, the firing actually seems to follow an odd pattern that has emerged in the league over the last few years.

Three of the last four coaches from the NBA championship teams no longer work for the team they won the title with. Nick Nurse coached the 2019 Raptors championship team and he was just fired on April 21. The 2020 Lakers title team was coached by Frank Vogel, who was let go in April 2022. 

Budenholzer was added to that unfortunate list on Thursday. 

Mannix: First-Round Collapse Was Enough for Bucks to Move on From Mike Budenholzer

The only coach that still has their job with the team they won a title with is Warriors coach Steve Kerr, who was at the helm during the team’s four most recent titles in 2015, ‘17, ‘18 and ‘22.

Fans would think that coaches who bring an NBA trophy to their city would have the best job security, but it’s been quite the streak of bad luck for coaches who have won recent NBA titles.