The wave of health and safety protocols is still coming for the Milwaukee Bucks. After losing Grayson Allen and Pat Connaughton to the protocols last night, ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reported that head coach Mike Budenholzer has entered protocols and will be out tonight against the Toronto Raptors.
Budenholzer is now the 12th coach to enter health and safety protocols this season and is the sixth member of the Bucks organization to be listed in health and safety protocols for tonight’s game.
Assistant coach Darvin Ham will take over for Budenholzer tonight and he is considered by many to be one of the top assistant head coaches in the league as well as one of the next in line for a head coaching opportunity.
Reactions to Milwaukee Bucks head coach Mike Budenholzer entering health and safety protocols
Right off the bat, we wish Budenholzer a speedy recovery, and hopefully, he is feeling well.
It’s obviously never an ideal time for someone to enter health and safety protocols, but there are at least a couple of silver linings here.
The first is that Ham is, by all accounts, an excellent assistant and is more than qualified to take the reins for tonight’s game as well as any other games, should Budenholzer miss extended time. It’s also better that the Bucks are getting their COVID outbreak in the middle of the season as opposed to later in the season or in the playoffs.
The Bucks have had at least 10 players in health and safety protocols this season and essentially every member of their rotation has been in except for Jrue Holiday (who was in protocols last season), George Hill, and DeMarcus Cousins.
The final silver lining is that this comes after the league announced updated protocol rules, which included a shorter isolation time for vaccinated individuals. Should Budenholzer’s symptoms subside, he will be able to return to the team sooner than the previous 10 day quarantine period.
Of course, it would still be nice to have their head coach for a game against an upstart Raptors team that has given the Bucks problems over the years and then for the upcoming road trip as well, which includes a game against the Brooklyn Nets to kick things off.
Budenholzer has done a terrific job guiding the Bucks through their injury and illness woes this season, finding new ways to win games with different lineups on the floor each game.
The Bucks will certainly be in tough these next couple of games with five players and their head coach in protocols. Right when things looked as though the Bucks were getting fully healthy, the health and safety protocols have taken that away.
The Budenholzer-less Bucks will take on the Toronto Raptors tonight at 7:00 pm CT at Fiserv Forum.