:format(webp)/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/70351079/usa_today_17353730.0.jpg)
Get out your notepads, for we’ve got another entry into the health and safety protocols for the Milwaukee Bucks in the form of head coach Mike Budenholzer, per Woj.
ESPN Sources: Milwaukee Bucks coach Mike Budenholzer has entered Covid protocols and will miss tonight's game vs. Toronto. Top assistant Darvin Ham will be the acting head coach. Ham is considered one of the league's next wave of head coaches.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) January 5, 2022
It’s not unprecedented at all, as a series of coaches across the league have entered the protocols in recent weeks, forcing assistants to the forefront.
Milwaukee's Mike Budenholzer would be the 12th NBA coach to enter the league's health and safety protcols, joining Carlisle (IND), Gentry (SAC), Vogel (LAL), Williams (PHX), Rivers (PHI), Malone (DEN), Billups (POR), Daigenault (OKC), Donovan (CHI), Lue (LAC) and McMillan (ATL).
— Marc Stein (@TheSteinLine) January 5, 2022
Bud will join those ranks and be forced to watch Wednesday’s game from the sidelines, and will also likely be out for their B2B road trip on Friday and Saturday depending on whether he was just a close contact or if he’s tested positive and has to get the requisite negative tests. Either way, let’s hope he and his family are safe and doing okay.
The glass half full approach to this story was already alluded to by Woj, which is that Darvin Ham will at least be thrust into the spotlight for a few days. How his presence would impact the team seems negligible at best, and he’ll likely run the same stuff Bud would, but it gives him a bigger platform for a few days if nothing else. As someone who has been on the cusp of a head coaching gig many times, that’s not a bad thing.
Loading comments...