Adrian Darnell Griffin Sr. (born July 4, 1974) is an American professional

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

coach and former player who most recently served as the head coach for the

Milwaukee Bucks The Milwaukee Bucks are an American professional basketball team based in Milwaukee. The Bucks compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Central Division (NBA), Central Division of the Eastern Conference (NBA), East ...

of the

National Basketball Association The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada). The NBA is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Ca ...

(NBA). He played in the NBA as a

shooting guard The shooting guard (SG), also known as the two, two guard or off guard,Shooting guards are 6'3"–6'7"BBC Sports academy URL last accessed 2006-09-09. is one of the five traditional basketball positions, positions in a regulation basketball game ...

and

small forward The small forward (SF), also known as the three, is one of the five Basketball position, positions in a regulation basketball game. Small forwards are typically shorter, quicker, and leaner than Power forward (basketball), power forwards and Cent ...

from 1999 to 2008. Griffin grew up in

Wichita, Kansas Wichita ( ) is the List of cities in Kansas, most populous city in the U.S. state of Kansas and the county seat of Sedgwick County, Kansas, Sedgwick County. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population of the city was 397, ...

, and played

college basketball College basketball is basketball that is played by teams of Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. In the Higher education in the United States, United States, colleges and universities are governed by collegiate athle ...

for the Seton Hall Pirates.

Controversy

In August 2020, Griffin was publicly accused of domestic abuse by his former wife, Audrey Sterling. The Raptors did not take any action against Griffin or conduct any investigation in regards to the allegations. Griffin filed a

defamation Defamation is a communication that injures a third party's reputation and causes a legally redressable injury. The precise legal definition of defamation varies from country to country. It is not necessarily restricted to making assertions ...

suit against Sterling in 2021, which was settled in 2022.

College career

Griffin attended

Seton Hall University Seton Hall University (SHU) is a Private university, private Catholic Church, Catholic research university in South Orange, New Jersey, United States. Founded in 1856 by then-Bishop James Roosevelt Bayley and named after his aunt, Saint Elizab ...

and was a three-year starter. As a senior, he averaged 16.2 points, 8.3 rebounds, and 3.1 assists per game, and won All-

Big East The Big East Conference (stylized as BIG EAST) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference that competes in National Collegiate Athletic Association, NCAA NCAA Division I, Division I in 10 men's sports and 12 women's sports. H ...

second team honors. In 2010, Griffin was inducted into the Seton Hall Athletics Hall of Fame.

Professional career

Griffin was not selected in the

1996 NBA draft The 1996 NBA draft was the 50th NBA draft, draft in the National Basketball Association (NBA). It was held on June 26, 1996–97 NBA season, 1996, at Continental Airlines Arena in East Rutherford, New Jersey. In this draft, NBA teams took turns s ...

. He spent the first three years of his career in the American minor leagues and in Italy (playing 8 games for Cordivari Roseto from July to October 1998). Griffin was selected to the All-Rookie First Team in 1997 while playing for the Connecticut Pride of the

Continental Basketball Association The Continental Basketball Association (CBA), originally known as the Eastern Pennsylvania Basketball League, and later as the Eastern Professional Basketball League and the Eastern Basketball Association, was a men's professional basketball m ...

. He was selected to the All-CBA First Team and All-Defensive Team with the Pride in 1998. Griffin led the Pride to the CBA championship in the 1998–99 season as he was named the Finals Most Valuable Player. He was also selected as the CBA Most Valuable Player and earned All-CBA First Team and All-Defensive Team honors. Griffin began his

(NBA) career in 1999–2000 with the

Boston Celtics The Boston Celtics ( ) are an American professional basketball team based in Boston. The Celtics compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Atlantic Division (NBA), Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference (NBA), ...

. As a rookie, his averages were 7 points, 5.2 rebounds and 1.61 steals per game. Over six seasons, he played for the

Dallas Mavericks The Dallas Mavericks (often referred to as the Mavs) are an American professional basketball team based in Dallas. The Mavericks compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Southwest Division (NBA), Southwest Divisi ...

Houston Rockets The Houston Rockets are an American professional basketball team based in Houston. The Rockets compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Southwest Division (NBA), Southwest Division of the Western Conference (NBA) ...

and

Chicago Bulls The Chicago Bulls are an American professional basketball team based in Chicago. The Bulls compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Central Division of the Eastern Conference. The team was founded on January 16 ...

, averaging 4.4 points, 3.3 rebounds and one steal per game. A career highlight was becoming a starter for the

in the 2006 NBA Finals. After one season with the Mavericks, Griffin signed a three-year deal with the

on July 17, 2006. On February 21, 2008, Griffin was traded to the Seattle SuperSonics in an 11-player deal that involved players from the

Cleveland Cavaliers The Cleveland Cavaliers, often referred to as the Cavs, are an American professional basketball team based in Cleveland. The Cavaliers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Central Division (NBA), Central Divis ...

, and the SuperSonics. On August 13, 2008, Griffin was traded to the

in a three-team, six-player deal involving the Bucks, the

, and the

Oklahoma City Thunder The Oklahoma City Thunder are an American professional basketball team based in Oklahoma City. The Thunder compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Northwest Division (NBA), Northwest Division of the Western Confer ...

that also sent Milwaukee's Mo Williams to Cleveland, Cleveland's Joe Smith and Milwaukee's Desmond Mason to Oklahoma City, and Cleveland's Damon Jones and Oklahoma City's Luke Ridnour to Milwaukee.

Coaching career

Assistant coach (2008–2023)

Shortly after his playing career ended, he was hired by

head coach

Scott Skiles Scott Allen Skiles Sr. (born March 5, 1964) is an American former basketball coach and player. He coached the Phoenix Suns, Chicago Bulls, Milwaukee Bucks and Orlando Magic. A first-round draft pick out of Michigan State University, Skiles played ...

as an assistant, where he would work for the next two seasons. On September 8, 2010, he became an assistant coach for the

under Tom Thibodeau, where he coached for five years. Along with working in the NBA, in 2014, Griffin accepted the offer to work with the USA coaching staff that helped win the gold medal in the 2014

FIBA World Cup The FIBA Basketball World Cup is an international basketball competition between the senior men's national teams of the members of the International Basketball Federation (FIBA), the sport's global governing body. It takes place every four ye ...

. This team featured many NBA stars including:

Stephen Curry Wardell Stephen Curry II ( ; born March 14, 1988) is an American professional basketball player and point guard for the Golden State Warriors of the National Basketball Association (NBA). Nicknamed "Chef Curry", he is widely regarded as the ...

James Harden James Edward Harden Jr. (born August 26, 1989) is an American professional basketball player for the Los Angeles Clippers of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He is regarded by some as one of the greatest shooting guards in NBA hist ...

, and Kyrie Irving. On June 26, 2015, he was hired by the

Orlando Magic The Orlando Magic are an American professional basketball team based in Orlando, Florida. The Magic compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Southeast Division (NBA), Southeast Division of the Eastern Conference (NB ...

to be their top assistant coach. On July 1, 2016, Griffin was hired by the

as an assistant coach. On July 25, 2018, Griffin was hired by the

Toronto Raptors The Toronto Raptors are a Canadian professional basketball team based in Toronto. The Raptors compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Atlantic Division (NBA), Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference (NBA), E ...

as an assistant coach. Griffin was an instrumental piece of the Raptors 2019 championship run, where they defeated the

Golden State Warriors The Golden State Warriors are an American professional basketball team based in San Francisco. The Warriors compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Pacific Division of the Western Conference. Founded in 1946 i ...

in 6 games of the

2019 NBA Finals The 2019 NBA Finals was the championship series of the National Basketball Association's (NBA) 2018–19 season and conclusion of the season's playoffs. In the best-of-seven playoff series held from May 30 through June 13, 2019, the Eastern ...

, yielding Griffin his first championship ring. On April 10, 2022, Griffin served as the acting head coach for the Raptors' final game of the 2021–22 regular season against the Knicks.

Milwaukee Bucks (2023–2024)

On June 5, 2023, Griffin was named head coach of the

. Griffin was fired on January 23, 2024. The team was 30–13 and in second place in the Eastern Conference at the time, though their wins had not been resounding. After his firing, the Bucks went 5–8 in their last 13 games before the 2024 NBA All-Star break began on February 16. With Milwaukee owning the second-best record in the Eastern Conference and the top-seeded

head coach Joe Mazzulla having coached in the 2023 NBA All Star Game the year prior, the Bucks’ coaching staff was named as the unit to coach in the 2024 game, however due to Griffin's termination, newly appointed Bucks head coach

Doc Rivers Glenn Anton "Doc" Rivers (born October 13, 1961) is an American professional basketball coach and former player who is the head coach of the Milwaukee Bucks of the National Basketball Association (NBA). An NBA player for 14 seasons, he was an NB ...

instead coached the Eastern Conference All-Stars in the contest. A few weeks prior to the game, Rivers said he would award his All Star ring and bonus check to Griffin.

Personal life

Griffin is a

Christian A Christian () is a person who follows or adheres to Christianity, a Monotheism, monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus Christ. Christians form the largest religious community in the wo ...

. His father worked for

Boeing The Boeing Company, or simply Boeing (), is an American multinational corporation that designs, manufactures, and sells airplanes, rotorcraft, rockets, satellites, and missiles worldwide. The company also provides leasing and product support s ...

, while also working as a

pastor A pastor (abbreviated to "Ps","Pr", "Pstr.", "Ptr." or "Psa" (both singular), or "Ps" (plural)) is the leader of a Christianity, Christian congregation who also gives advice and counsel to people from the community or congregation. In Lutherani ...

in a local church. Griffin completed his bachelor's and master's degrees from Seton Hall. He earned his Ph.D. in Organizational Leadership at Concordia University Chicago in January 2022. His doctoral dissertation was titled "How Active NBA Assistant Coaches Experience Stress, Stressors, Coping Strategies, and Interventions in a Competitive Sports Environment." Griffin married Audrey Sterling in 1996. Together, they had four children - two boys and two girls. Griffin and Audrey divorced in 2016. Griffin went on to marry a second time, to his current wife, Kathy in 2016. Griffin's son Adrian Jr. was a McDonald's All-American and five-star recruit in the class of 2021 and was drafted 16th overall to the

Atlanta Hawks The Atlanta Hawks are an American professional basketball team based in Atlanta. The Hawks compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Southeast Division (NBA), Southeast Division of the Eastern Conference (NBA), Easte ...

in 2022. Griffin's other son,

Alan Alan may refer to: People *Alan (surname), an English and Kurdish surname * Alan (given name), an English given name ** List of people with given name Alan ''Following are people commonly referred to solely by "Alan" or by a homonymous name.'' * ...

, played his first two college seasons at Illinois before transferring to Syracuse his junior season. He last played for the

on a summer league contract. His daughter, Aubrey, was also McDonald's All-American and five-star recruit in the class of 2019 and played at UConn. She was drafted in the third round of the 2025

WNBA Draft The WNBA draft is an annual draft (sports), draft held by the Women's National Basketball Association, WNBA through which WNBA teams can select new players from a talent pool of college and List of WNBA players, professional women's basketball p ...

by the

Minnesota Lynx The Minnesota Lynx are an American professional basketball team based in Minneapolis. The Lynx compete in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) as a member of the Western Conference (WNBA), Western Conference. The team won the WNBA ...

NBA career statistics

Regular season

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Boston Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

, 72 , , 47 , , 26.8 , , .424 , , .281 , , .753 , , 5.2 , , 2.5 , , 1.6 , , .2 , , 6.7 , - , align="left" , , align="left" ,

, 44 , , 0 , , 8.6 , , .340 , , .346 , , .750 , , 2.0 , , .6 , , .4 , , .1 , , 2.1 , - , align="left" , , align="left" ,

Dallas Dallas () is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the most populous city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of Texas metropolitan areas, most populous metropolitan area in Texas and the Metropolitan statistical area, fourth-most ...

, 58 , , 34 , , 23.8 , , .499 , , .296 , , .837 , , 3.9 , , 1.8 , , 1.3 , , .2 , , 7.2 , - , align="left" , , align="left" ,

, 74 , , 48 , , 18.6 , , .433 , , .250 , , .844 , , 3.6 , , 1.4 , , 1.0 , , .1 , , 4.4 , - , align="left" , , align="left" ,

Houston Houston ( ) is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in the U.S. state of Texas and in the Southern United States. Located in Southeast Texas near Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, it is the county seat, seat of ...

, 19 , , 1 , , 7.0 , , .278 , , .500 , , .000 , , 1.0 , , .5 , , .4 , , .1 , , .6 , - , align="left" , , align="left" ,

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

, 69 , , 1 , , 9.7 , , .360 , , .222 , , .750 , , 2.1 , , .8 , , .6 , , .1 , , 2.2 , - , align="left" , , align="left" ,

, 52 , , 45 , , 23.9 , , .480 , , .000 , , .774 , , 4.4 , , 1.7 , , 1.0 , , .2 , , 4.6 , - , align="left" , , align="left" ,

, 54 , , 1 , , 10.8 , , .473 , , .000 , , .789 , , 2.0 , , 1.1 , , .6 , , .1 , , 2.5 , - , align="left" rowspan=2 , , align="left" ,

, 22 , , 2 , , 10.1 , , .400 , , .000 , , .429 , , 1.7 , , 1.0 , , .6 , , .1 , , 2.3 , - , align="left" ,

Seattle Seattle ( ) is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Washington and in the Pacific Northwest region of North America. With a population of 780,995 in 2024, it is the 18th-most populous city in the United States. The city is the cou ...

, 13 , , 0 , , 6.5 , , .375 , , .000 , , 1.000 , , 1.7 , , .4 , , .4 , , .1 , , 1.1 , - class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:center;" colspan="2", Career , 477 , , 179 , , 16.8 , , .438 , , .278 , , .763 , , 3.2 , , 1.4 , , .9 , , .1 , , 4.0

Playoffs

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2002 The effects of the September 11 attacks of the previous year had a significant impact on the affairs of 2002. The war on terror was a major political focus. Without settled international law, several nations engaged in anti-terror operation ...

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, 4 , , 1 , , 14.3 , , .588 , , .000 , , .000 , , 2.3 , , 1.0 , , .5 , , .2 , , 5.0 , - , align="left" ,

2003 2003 was designated by the United Nations as the International Year of Fresh water, Freshwater. In 2003, a Multi-National Force – Iraq, United States-led coalition 2003 invasion of Iraq, invaded Iraq, starting the Iraq War. Demographic ...

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, 15 , , 2 , , 8.7 , , .415 , , .333 , , 1.000 , , 2.9 , , .5 , , .3 , , .0 , , 2.5 , - , align="left" ,

2005 2005 was designated as the International Year for Sport and Physical Education and the International Year of Microcredit. The beginning of 2005 also marked the end of the International Decade of the World's Indigenous Peoples, Internationa ...

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, 5 , , 0 , , 17.2 , , .517 , , .000 , , .800 , , 4.0 , , 1.8 , , 1.0 , , .0 , , 6.8 , - , align="left" ,

2006 2006 was designated as the International Year of Deserts and Desertification. Events January * January 1– 4 – Russia temporarily cuts shipment of natural gas to Ukraine during a price dispute. * January 12 – A stampede during t ...

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, 20 , , 8 , , 17.5 , , .542 , , .000 , , .875 , , 3.6 , , 1.2 , , .8 , , .1 , , 3.6 , - , align="left" ,

2007 2007 was designated as the International Heliophysical Year and the International Polar Year. Events January * January 1 **Bulgaria and Romania 2007 enlargement of the European Union, join the European Union, while Slovenia joins the Eur ...

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, 4 , , 0 , , 2.3 , , .000 , , .000 , , .000 , , .3 , , .0 , , .2 , , .0 , , .0 , - class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:center;" colspan="2", Career , 48 , , 11 , , 13.2 , , .487 , , .200 , , .765 , , 3.0 , , .9 , , .6 , , .1 , , 3.4

Head coaching record

NBA

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Milwaukee Milwaukee is the List of cities in Wisconsin, most populous city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. Located on the western shore of Lake Michigan, it is the List of United States cities by population, 31st-most populous city in the United States ...

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References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Griffin, Adrian 1974 births Living people 20th-century American sportsmen 20th-century African-American sportsmen 21st-century American sportsmen 21st-century African-American sportsmen African-American basketball coaches African-American Christians American expatriate basketball people in Canada American expatriate basketball people in Italy American men's basketball coaches American men's basketball players Atlantic City Seagulls players Basketball coaches from Kansas Basketball players from Wichita, Kansas Boston Celtics players Chicago Bulls assistant coaches Chicago Bulls players Connecticut Pride players Dallas Mavericks players Houston Rockets players Milwaukee Bucks assistant coaches Milwaukee Bucks head coaches Oklahoma City Thunder assistant coaches Orlando Magic assistant coaches Roseto Sharks players Seattle SuperSonics players Seton Hall Pirates men's basketball players Shooting guards Small forwards Toronto Raptors assistant coaches Undrafted NBA players United States men's national basketball team players