Coach Bud is back.
After leading the Bucks to the franchise’s first NBA championship in 50 years, head coach Mike Budenholzer is signing a multiyear contract extension with the team.
ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski is reporting that it’s a 3-year extension that’ll tie Bud to the Bucks through 2025.
It’s amazing to think how close we were to a drastically different outcome.
Don’t get me wrong, this is well-deserved, well-earned, and absolutely the correct decision by the Bucks.
Take a minute, though, to think back to where this team was against the Nets.
They were coming home for a must-win Game 3 after being lambasted in Games 1 and 2 in Brooklyn.
Bud’s always been a great guy and a terrific regular season coach.
If they don’t get through that Brooklyn series, though, I truly believe the Bucks would’ve moved in a different direction.
It would’ve been the team’s third consecutive season of playoff heartbreak, and the second year in a row that they failed to make it out of the conference semis.
Change would’ve been necessary, and Giannis, Khris, and Jrue weren’t moving.
Instead, Bud gets a trophy, a champagne shower, a parade, and an extension.
Nobody would want it any other way.
Just another example of how quickly things can change in life and in professional sports.