Instead of Nick Nurse, the Bucks went with Nick Nurse’s top assistant.

Milwaukee plans to hire Raptors assistant coach Adrian Griffin to replace Mike Budenholzer as their head coach, according to multiple reports on Saturday, with negotiations progressing between the two sides.

Nurse, the head coach in Toronto until getting fired after losing in the play-in tournament this season, was also a finalist along with former Nets coach and Warriors assistant Kenny Atkinson.

Griffin, a former player who has been an assistant coach for 15 years in Milwaukee, Chicago, Orlando and Oklahoma City, gets his first head coaching job in a high-pressure situation after the Bucks failed to make good on the No. 1 overall seed in the East.

An upset loss to the Heat in the first round led to Budenholzer’s surprising ouster as head coach.

With the key pieces from the Bucks’ 2021 title run still in place, the expectation will be to compete for Milwaukee’s second title since 1971 for as long as Giannis Antetokounmpo is still one of the dominant forces in the league.

Nurse, a reported candidate in Phoenix, could end up being an obstacle to that pursuit depending on how things work out.