Who are potential candidates for the Milwaukee Bucks head coaching position to replace Mike Budenholzer?

The Milwaukee Bucks are looking for a head coach after dismissing Mike Budenholzer following a 58-win season and a disappointing first-round playoff exit against the Miami Heat.

The new hire will be the third head coach under the ownership group headed by Wes Edens, who bought the team with Marc Lasry in 2014. Their first head coach was Jason Kidd, for whom they traded two second-round picks to Brooklyn that season.

Budenholzer also was hired when Edens was the team's governor in 2018. The Haslam Sports Group, led by Jimmy and Dee Haslam, is now a co-owner.

This hire comes at an inflection point for the franchise as Giannis Antetokounmpo is in his prime and has two years left of team control. The roster is older, expensive, and ready to win a championship in 2023-24.

Here is a look at who may be available for the Bucks to consider:

More: Bucks' Mike Budenholzer latest NBA champion coach to be fired. How social media is reacting.

CHAMPIONSHIP COACHES

Excluding Budenholzer, there are only two active head coaches who have won a championship in the past 20 years that appear to be available. Larry Brown, 82, guided the Detroit Pistons to the 2003-04 title.

Nick Nurse

Toronto fired Nurse after a play-in appearance this season. He oversaw a five-year run that began with an NBA championship in 2018-19 (where they came back from a two-game deficit to beat the Bucks in the Eastern Conference Finals). He was the 2019-20 coach of the year as the Raptors went 53-19 before losing in the second round.

Toronto went 227-163 (58.2%) under Nurse’s direction. They missed the playoffs in two of the past three seasons.

Frank Vogel

The Los Angeles Lakers fired Vogel two seasons after winning the 2019-20 title in the COVID-19 bubble. The Lakers made the playoffs the next year but lost in the first round and then sunk to a 33-49 record amid turmoil and injury involving Russell Westbrook, LeBron James and Anthony Davis. The Lakers eventually hired Darvin Ham off the Bucks’ staff to replace him.

Vogel went 127-98 (56.4%) as the Lakers’ coach from 2019-22 after six seasons in Indiana (250-181) and two seasons in Orlando (54-110). His teams have a 49-39 record in the postseason. His Pacers teams in 2013 and 2014 reached the Eastern Conference finals.

IN-HOUSE CANDIDATE

Charles Lee

Promoted to associate head coach before this season, Lee is a candidate for the opening head coach positions in Detroit and Toronto. An NBA assistant alongside Budenholzer since Atlanta in 2014, Lee began his coaching career at Bucknell University in 2012 after playing overseas for several seasons.

He has been connected to several openings the past few years, including vacancies for the Los Angeles Lakers (which eventually went to Ham), in Charlotte, Utah, Sacramento, New Orleans, Indiana, Washington and Oklahoma City.

FORMER HEAD COACHES

Kenny Atkinson

A former Budenholzer assistant in Atlanta, Atkinson coached the Brooklyn Nets from 2016-20 and posted a record of 118-190 with one playoff appearance in 2018-19. He was essentially moved out by stars Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving when the Nets decided to acquire them and give the stars more control of the franchise. Atkinson spent one year with the Los Angeles Clippers as an assistant before sitting beside Steve Kerr in Golden State the past two seasons.

Mike D’Antoni

A two-time NBA coach of the year, D’Antoni compiled a 672-527 (56%) record in the regular season over 16 years leading Denver, Phoenix, New York, the Los Angeles Lakers and Houston.

D’Antoni has never led a team to an NBA Finals but guided the Suns and Rockets to Western Conference finals trips. He most recently was an assistant in Brooklyn. He had recently interviewed in Charlotte and Sacramento in recent offseasons.

Mark Jackson

The current ESPN analyst coached the Golden State Warriors from 2011-14 and compiled a 121-109 (52.6%) record in the regular season and 9-10 mark in the playoffs. Jackson was fired after a 51-win campaign in 2014 and the Warriors won the NBA championship the next season under Steve Kerr to begin their dynasty.

Jackson has not coached since, though he was interviewed for the open positions in Sacramento and with the Los Angeles Lakers. Jackson played in the NBA for seven teams from 1987-2004 and was the rookie of the year in 1988 and an all-star in 1989.

PREVIOUSLY CONSIDERED CANDIDATES

Becky Hammon

Hammon won the 2022 WNBA title after leading the Las Vegas Aces to a league-best 26-10 regular-season record. A longtime San Antonio assistant, Hammon interviewed for not only the Bucks head coaching opening in 2018 but also the general manager position in 2017.

She has reportedly interviewed for open NBA head coaching positions in Charlotte, Portland and Toronto.

James Borrego

Another former San Antonio assistant, Borrego was reportedly in the mix for the job in 2018 before ultimately being hired by the Charlotte Hornets. He went 10-20 as Orlando’s interim head coach in 2014-15 and went 138-163 as the Hornets head coach from 2018-2022. Charlotte finished with a winning record last season (43-39) but did not make the playoffs.

RISING ASSISTANT COACHES

Jarron Collins

Collins played 10 seasons from 2001-11 for four teams before moving to the bench on Steve Kerr’s staff in Golden State in 2014. He began as a player development coach before taking on an assistant coaching role. He won three titles there before moving on to assist Willie Green in New Orleans in 2021-22.

Kevin Young

The Bucks considered now-Phoenix head coach Monty Williams in 2018, and while it appears Williams is solid in the Valley of the Sun, his lead assistant is getting some interest.

Young has been in Phoenix since 2020-21 and was promoted to associate head coach this season. He filled in for Williams as the acting head coach for four games in 2021 while Williams was in the health and safety protocols. Coaching since 2006 (in Ireland), he returned to the United States to coach in college before getting into the G League. He made it to the NBA in 2016 in Philadelphia and had an interview for the head job before Doc Rivers got the job.

Jay Larranaga

A Los Angeles Clippers assistant under Ty Lue the past two seasons, Larranaga spent 2012-2021 in Boston as an assistant under Rivers and Brad Stevens. He began his coaching career in 2008 as the player/coach of the Irish national team. He then moved into the G League in 2010. He played professionally across Europe from 1997-2009.

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This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Who are potential candidates for the Bucks head coaching position?