Sources: Budenholzer named top coach by peers

Milwaukee Bucks coach Mike Budenholzer has been elected the National Basketball Coach’s Association’s 2019 Coach of the Year, league sources told ESPN.

The NBCA’s award, named in honor of Michael Goldberg, the group’s late president, polls the 30 NBA head coaches and mandates that no individual can vote for himself.

Budenholzer led the Bucks to 60 victories and the league’s best record in his first season with Milwaukee.

Among his competitors, Brooklyn’s Kenny Atkinson, Denver’s Michael Malone, Indiana’s Nate McMillan, San Antonio’s Gregg Popovich, the Clippers’ Doc Rivers, Utah’s Quin Snyder and Portland’s Terry Stotts also received votes, sources said.

Budenholzer won the Red Auerbach Trophy as the NBA’s Coach of the Year in 2015, which is selected by the media. He helped the Atlanta Hawks win 60 games that season.

In the two previous years of the voting, Dwane Casey won in 2018 and Mike D’Antoni and Erik Spoelstra were co-winners in 2017.