The Lakers coach and Bucks coach met up pregame.
First-year Los Angeles Lakers head coach Darvin Ham met up courtside with his longtime boss, Milwaukee Bucks head coach Mike Budenholzer, prior to the Lakers’ best victory of the 2022-23 season so far.
Ham served as a longtime assistant coach under Budenholzer, during his stints with the Atlanta Hawks and the Bucks, from 2013-2022.
Those sharpshooting, Spurs-ian Atlanta clubs never quite got to the finish line, but they did make several deep playoff runs, including to the 2015 Eastern Conference Finals, where were swept by LeBron James’s Cleveland Cavaliers.
The Bucks, led by two-time MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo, fared better. The team went to the Eastern Conference Finals during Budenholzer (and Ham)’s first season with the franchise, 2018-19, and won the whole darn thing in 2021.