One of Milwaukee Bucks head coach Mike Budenholzer’s brothers died in a car accident during the team’s first-round playoff series against the Miami Heat.
Budenholzer, 53, confirmed to The Athletic that one of his three brothers died before Game 4, which took place last Monday.
Lakers head coach Darvin Ham, a former assistant on Budenholzer’s staff in Milwaukee, initially revealed the news on Friday.
“Coach Bud is going through a lot on a personal level,” Ham said. “He just lost a brother, so, my apologies Bud if I wasn’t supposed to let anybody know. He and I’ve been texting. I love those guys. They’re a part of my basketball family.”
Budenholzer, the youngest of seven children, told The Athletic “he loves and respects Ham and was comfortable confirming what Ham had told reporters.”
The Bucks, who had the best record in the NBA this season at 58-24, lost to the Heat in five games in the first round.
Budenholzer, a two-time NBA coach of the year, just completed his fifth season as the Bucks’ head coach.
He has a 271-120 record since joining Milwaukee and led the franchise to an NBA championship two seasons ago.
Before becoming the Bucks coach, Budenholzer was the head coach of the Hawks for five seasons, making the playoffs in each of his first four years, including a run to the Eastern Conference finals in 2015.
Budenholzer was a longtime Spurs assistant under Gregg Popovich before getting the Hawks job, working in San Antonio from 1996 to 2013 and winning four championships during that span.