The Milwaukee Bucks are finalizing a deal with Taylor Jenkins to change into the workforce’s subsequent head coach, league sources confirmed to The Athletic.
The 41-year-old was the head coach of the Memphis Grizzlies from 2019 to 2025 and led the franchise to 4 playoff appearances in his six seasons.
League sources instructed The Athletic the settlement comes on the finish of a “full-court press” by the group to safe one of many high names on the teaching market earlier than different groups have an opportunity to enter the market after postseason eliminations. As The Athletic first reported, normal supervisor Jon Horst and each of the Bucks’ major homeowners, Wes Edens and Jimmy Haslam, traveled to Memphis early final week to categorical their curiosity in bringing Jenkins to Milwaukee.
Jenkins received 54 % of his video games throughout his time in Memphis. The excessive level was throughout the 2021-22 season, when Memphis tied a franchise document with 56 regular-season victories and in addition received a playoff sequence for the primary time since 2015.
Before then, Jenkins served as a Bucks assistant coach underneath Mike Budenholzer within the 2018-19 season. He additionally coached underneath Budenholzer in Atlanta from 2013 to 2018.
Jenkins didn’t coach the Grizzlies within the final of these 4 playoff appearances as a result of the group fired him with 9 video games remaining within the 2024-25 season. Tuomas Iisalo, one of many assistant coaches the group requested Jenkins to hire earlier than the season, changed him. In Jenkins’ most profitable season with Memphis, the Grizzlies ranked within the high 5 in offensive and defensive effectivity, per Cleaning the Glass.
Overwhelmingly, nonetheless, Jenkins’ groups received with protection. While any nice protection wants the correct personnel to be efficient, Jenkins successfully leveraged that personnel to create one of many NBA’s most suffocating defenses.
| OFF Rank | Def Rank | |
|---|---|---|
2019-20 | twenty third | 14th |
2020-21 | fifteenth | seventh |
2021-22 | 4th | fifth |
2022-23 | eleventh | 2nd |
2023-24 | thirtieth | thirteenth |
2024-25 | sixth | tenth |
Jenkins’ system efficiently maximized the flexibility and shot-blocking means of Jaren Jackson Jr. to shut down the rim for opposing offenses. Jackson led the league in blocks per sport twice and received the 2022-23 Defensive Player of the Year underneath Jenkins.
Memphis’ protection additionally restricted nook 3s, rating within the backside 10 in nook 3 frequency in 5 of Jenkins’ six seasons. They pressured plenty of turnovers, ending within the high 10 in turnover fee in 4 of Jenkins’ six seasons.
Outside of the 2023-24 season, throughout which Grizzlies star Ja Morant performed simply 9 video games, Memphis usually posted an above-average offense with Jenkins on the helm and completed within the high 10 in offensive effectivity twice throughout his tenure.
Jenkins was one of many first coaches to emphasize successful the possession battle on a nightly foundation, a tactical pattern that different coaches have now embraced. Despite usually ending within the backside 10 in efficient field-goal share, Memphis managed to put collectively above-average offensive effectivity numbers by relentlessly attacking the offensive glass. The Grizzlies had been the NBA’s high offensive rebounding workforce in 2021-22, in accordance to Cleaning the Glass, and completed high 5 within the class in 4 of Jenkins’ six seasons.
With the Bucks admitting they are going to take into account buying and selling Giannis Antetokounmpo this offseason, they wanted a coach with a powerful strategic method. During his time in Memphis, Jenkins confirmed he may devise a set of ways that labored for his particular personnel. He will want to do this once more in Milwaukee to repair a workforce that completed twenty second in factors scored per 100 possessions and twenty seventh in factors allowed per 100 possessions final season.
