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Terry Stotts resigned as a Milwaukee Bucks assistant just two days after having an exchange with head coach Adrian Griffin at Tuesday’s shootaround, according to Shams Charania and Eric Nehm of The Athletic.
Stotts previously spent nine seasons as head coach of the Portland Trail Blazers before joining the Bucks prior to this season. He joined the coaching staff of Adrian Griffin, who had been hired this past summer after serving as an assistant for the Toronto Raptors from 2018 to ’23.
Charania and Nehm detailed the brief altercation on Tuesday, occurring shortly after Griffin informed the team’s assistant coaches that he wanted to have a separate huddle with them once they finished the huddle with the players.
When the huddle with the players concluded, Stotts went to speak to the team’s two superstars, per Charania and Nehm:
“As Stotts attempted to start a conversation with [Damian] Lillard and Giannis Antetokounmpo, Griffin called to Stotts to join the coaching huddle. When Stotts asked for some time with the players, Griffin yelled for Stotts to join the coaches’ huddle. The incident occurred in front of the entire team, those sources said.”
Griffin and Stotts had been part of a highly touted coaching staff change in Milwaukee, with the former helping build a title-winning defense in Toronto while the latter coached several elite Portland offenses in the 2010s.
Griffin was surprised by the resignation, per The Athletic.
“He was a terrific guy. I learned a lot from him in a very short time,” he said. “He was really good at what he does. He made a decision, a personal decision, and we just have to respect that.”
Griffin will attempt to mitigate the loss of Stotts and work to improve a Bucks offense that ranked 15th in the NBA with a 114.3 offensive rating during the 2022-23 season, per NBA.com.