The Milwaukee Bucks are in the process of hiring longtime NBA assistant coach Adrian Griffin to be their next head coach. Here's what to know about the new hire:

This will be Adrian Griffin's first head coaching job

Though Griffin has been an assistant coach in the NBA for 15 years — since when the Bucks hired him immediately after his playing career — this is the first time Griffin will be a head coach on any level.

Adrian Griffin will be the 17th coach in Bucks history

He replaces Mike Budenholzer, who's been at the helm for five seasons but was fired after a shocking early exit in the 2023 playoffs. Under Budenholzer, the Bucks have had the NBA's best regular-season record in three of the last four years. Ironically enough, it's the year when the Bucks didn't have the best record that they won their first NBA title in 50 years, in 2021.

Did Giannis Antetokounmpo have a say in hiring Adrian Griffin?

Giannis was heavily involved in the decision-making process, even reportedly welcoming Griffin to his home for one part of the process. Khris Middleton, whose own future in Milwaukee is murky, also met with Griffin.

How old is Adrian Griffin and where is he from?

Griffin, who will turn 49 on July 4, hails from Kansas and played college basketball at Seton Hall before working his way toward an NBA playing career.

The Wichita native was an all-Big East player at Seton Hall, though he went undrafted in 1996. It's the same draft where the Bucks came away with Ray Allen, and future Bucks player and assistant Darvin Ham — now the Lakers coach —also went undrafted.

Griffin, a 6-foot-5 small forward, played professionally overseas and in lower American leagues, including the Continental Basketball Association, where he was named the league's MVP in 1999 with the Connecticut Pride.

After that, he signed with the Boston Celtics and went on to play nine seasons in the NBA, making appearances for the Dallas Mavericks (in two stints), Houston Rockets, Chicago Bulls (in two stints) and Seattle SuperSonics. He didn't play April 16, 2008, for the Sonics, his final game on an NBA roster and the final game for Seattle before the franchise relocated to Oklahoma City.

In his NBA career, Griffin averaged 4.0 points and 3.2 rebounds per game.

Griffin came to the Bucks first as a player but eventually became an assistant coach

Griffin, part of a three-team trade on Aug. 13, 2008, that also brought Luke Ridnour and Damon Jones to Milwaukee, found his way onto the Bucks roster for the 2008-09 preseason, but he was waived when the Bucks acquired Austin Croshere.

Griffin's career in basketball swiftly entered another chapter, though, when Bucks coach Scott Skiles hired him in November of the 2008-09 season as an assistant coach.

"He's just kind of learning the ropes," Skiles said, adding that he brought in Griffin as a "behind the bench" coach working with players on individual workouts. "He wants to get into coaching, and he's going to be a good coach, so it seemed like a logical thing for us to do."

Griffin stayed with the Bucks until 2010 when he joined the Bulls

In September 2010, Griffin was hired as an assistant coach for the Chicago Bulls, brought in by new Chicago coach Tom Thibodeau. He'd been working with Bucks players right up until the announcement.

Oddly enough, former Bucks head coach and Wisconsin native Terry Porter had been a candidate for a Bulls assistant job, but Thibodeau didn't include Porter in his cadre of hires. Instead, Porter joined the Portland Trail Blazers broadcast coverage as a studio analyst and game reporter.

Griffin remained with Chicago for five years. His subsequent coaching jobs included assistant positions with Orlando, Oklahoma City and Toronto before getting hired as head coach with the Bucks.

Griffin won a ring with the Toronto Raptors

Griffin has been with Toronto since 2018, and he was seen as a potential successor when the Raptors elected to fire Nick Nurse this offseason.

He was there in 2019 when the Raptors defeated the Bucks in the Eastern Conference finals in a heartbreaking six games, en route to the NBA title.

Griffin has been interviewing for head coaching jobs since at least 2014. He’s been highly regarded in league circles as far back as 2012, when Chicago denied Portland and Orlando permission to speak with him about assistant jobs, insisting he’d only be allowed to interview for head coaching jobs.

Griffin's son plays for the Atlanta Hawks

Adrian Griffin Jr., or AJ Griffin, plays for Atlanta, having been selected with the 16th overall pick in the 2022 NBA Draft. Griffin, who attended Duke University and is just 19, played in 72 games as a rookie this season, averaging 8.9 points per game.

Griffin has another son, Alan, who played at Illinois and Syracuse, and a daughter, Aubrey, who plays at Connecticut.

Griffin has master's and doctoral degrees

According to his LinkedIn bio, Griffin's education didn't stop at Seton Hall, where he graduated with a bachelor's degree. He also received his doctorate in organizational leadership from Concordia University in Chicago and a master's of business administration from the University of Phoenix.

In 2020, Griffin's wife alleged domestic violence

During the “bubble” playoffs in 2020, Griffin was accused of domestic violence on social media by his ex-wife, Audrey Sterling. Griffin denied the allegations and faced no punishment from the Raptors or the league. In 2021, Griffin sued his ex-wife for defamation. The case was settled in 2022.

The Bucks reportedly liked Griffin's character and chose him over Nick Nurse and Kenny Atkinson

According to ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski, "Bucks general manager Jon Horst and team ownership became sold on Griffin's leadership presence, character and ability to oversee high-level defensive teams, sources said."

Griffin was the least-heralded of three names who surfaced as the frontrunners for the job a week earlier, including his former boss with the Raptors, Nick Nurse. Nurse ultimately took the Philadelphia 76ers vacancy, available after the team fired Marquette University alumnus Doc Rivers.

Former Nets coach and current Warriors assistant Kenny Atkinson was also seen as one of the three frontrunners.

This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: New Milwaukee Bucks coach Adrian Griffin: What to know about him