MILWAUKEE — The Milwaukee Bucks fired Adrian Griffin as coach on Tuesday after just 43 games despite having one of the league’s top records midway through his first season.

“This was a difficult decision to make during the season,” Bucks General Manager Jon Horst said in a statement announcing the move. “We are working immediately toward hiring our next head coach. We thank Coach Griffin for his hard work and contributions to the team.”

Joe Prunty, who had been an assistant coach on Griffin’s staff, will serve as the Bucks’ interim head coach.

Milwaukee is 30-13 to tie the Minnesota Timberwolves for the league’s second-best record entering Tuesday. The Bucks are 3 1/2 games behind the Boston Celtics in the Eastern Conference.

But the dip in Milwaukee’s defensive performance had raised concerns about the Bucks’ viability as a championship contender even after they had acquired seven-time all-NBA guard Damian Lillard before the season to team up with two-time MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo. The Bucks rank 22nd in the NBA in defensive rating, down from fourth a year earlier.

Milwaukee had given Griffin his first head coaching job this summer after firing Mike Budenholzer, who led the Bucks in 2021 to their first title in half a century. The coaching change came after the top-seeded Bucks were stunned 4-1 by the Miami Heat in the first round of last season’s playoffs.

Griffin, 49, had spent 16 seasons as an NBA assistant, including the last five with the Toronto Raptors. That followed a nine-year NBA playing career.

TRADE: Kyle Lowry is in the final year of his contract, spent the last couple of weeks in a slump and just last week lost his spot in the Miami Heat starting lineup.

A trade seemed inevitable – and the Charlotte Hornets helped make it a reality.

Lowry was traded by the Heat to the Hornets for Terry Rozier – someone enjoying the best season of his career – in a swap of guards that figures to be a big help for Miami in its playoff push.

The defending Eastern Conference champion Heat also are sending a first-round draft pick to the Hornets to complete the deal. The pick will be lottery-protected for 2027; otherwise, Charlotte gets the pick in 2028.

“Man, Kyle has been one of my favorite teammates, if not the favorite teammate,” Heat captain Bam Adebayo said. “He’s always talking about ways to get the ball. He always talks about giving me easy catches. He’s been positive. He’s like a brother to me and he’ll continue to be my brother.”

Rozier will wear jersey No. 2 for the Heat, and the team already was working Tuesday on preparing his uniform – just in case he’s able to play when Miami plays host to Memphis on Wednesday. He wore No. 3 in Charlotte; that number is retired in Miami to honor Dwyane Wade, one of Rozier’s favorite players.

CAVALIERS: Cleveland center Tristan Thompson was suspended 25 games without pay by the NBA for violating the league’s anti-drug policy.

According to the league, the 32-year-old Thompson tested positive for ibutamoren, a growth hormone, and SARM LGD-4033, commonly used by body builders and weight lifters for muscle enhancement.

Thompson will begin serving his suspension Wednesday when the Cavs, who have won eight straight games, play the first of two in three days at Milwaukee. There was no immediate comment from Thompson or the Cavs.

PACERS: All-Star guard Tyrese Haliburton will sit out the Indiana Pacers next three games, Coach Rick Carlisle said.

Haliburton has missed six of seven games since straining his left hamstring when he slipped while driving to the basket against Boston on Jan. 8. Teammates carried Haliburton from the court to the locker room. An MRI the next day confirmed the initial diagnosis, that it was a strained hamstring.

He returned to action in Friday’s loss at Portland but sat out again Sunday at Phoenix. Now, he’ll miss the first three games of Indiana’s four-game homestand this week – and possibly all four.