With the start of the 2023-24 NBA season just days away, the Milwaukee Bucks received some surprising news with ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reporting that assistant coach Terry Stotts has resigned from the team.
A former head coach with the Atlanta Hawks, the Bucks and the Portland Trail Blazers, Stotts had sat out the previous two seasons after mutually parting ways with Portland following the 2020-21 season. The 65-year-old returned to join new Milwaukee head coach Adrian Griffin’s staff this past offseason, but won’t ultimately be with the team when it opens its upcoming season against the Philadelphia 76ers on Oct. 26 — and beyond.
It’s unclear why Stotts decided to resign, but the decision remains surprising nonetheless. In addition to the Bucks being considered one of the favorites to win the NBA title this season, Milwaukee recently made a blockbuster trade to acquire superstar guard Damian Lillard, who played under Stotts during the first nine years of his NBA career in Portland.
All indications are that Stotts and Lillard had a great relationship during their time together with the Trail Blazers, so it was certainly a shock to see the assistant coach resign so close to the start of the season. Shortly after Wojnarowski announced the news of Stotts’ departure, many took to social media to weigh in.
https://twitter.com/ZiggyOfAk/status/1715002086356906336
Terry Stotts saw how Porzingis and Jrue Holiday look alongside Tatum and JBrown and he said #DoughLetMeOut 🤣 https://t.co/uyjUyPfrAv
— 73-9 and THEY LIED (@CuffsTheLegend) October 19, 2023
Tough loss, hope he’s good. Damian Lillard was just saying how much easier the Bucks offense was to learn because Terry Stotts was running a similar offense to what they ran together in Portland. https://t.co/s0PTAFWT9G
— Tomer Azarly (@TomerAzarly) October 19, 2023
??? Weird!
I hope everything is okay with Stotts and his family but given the vibes until now, with Dame, Griffin and others very excited about Stotts, this is puzzling. https://t.co/ceXmU0SnVI
— Ti Windisch (@TiWindisch) October 19, 2023
I’m sure we’ll get more information about this, because this is so bizarre. One of the reasons to be bullish about the Bucks with a first year head coach was Stotts being the experienced guy running the offense (and his familiarity with Dame) https://t.co/pSfBH4XKSE
— Daman Rangoola (@damanr) October 19, 2023
What??
NO NO NO NO NOOOOOO
WE’RE FINISHEDNo better assistant coach for us out there not even close man https://t.co/DU5PwS37xn
— ³⁴ (@GiannisWorld) October 19, 2023
Losing a top assistant who was in charge of the offense 1 week before the season opener seems pretty devastating. Hard to replace with another quality candidate at this stage and no idea what that means for the Bucks offense (sets, spacing, etc.) going forward https://t.co/dXcdfCeWEX
— Jake Reetz (@jajareetz) October 19, 2023
About Ben Axelrod
Ben Axelrod is a veteran of the sports media landscape, having most recently worked for NBC's Cleveland affiliate, WKYC. Prior to his time in Cleveland, he covered Ohio State football and the Big Ten for outlets including Cox Media Group, Bleacher Report, Scout and Rivals.