Suns fire Mike Budenholzer after one train wreck of a season
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The Suns have fired head coach Mike Budenholzer after they finished with a 36-46 record, didn’t sniff a playoff-clinching top-six seed and missed the play-in tournament by three games.
The franchise hired Budenholzer on a five-year deal for more than $50 million less than a year ago following a 49-33 season and a first-round playoff exit under then-head coach Frank Vogel.
Mike Budenholzer was in the first year of a five-year deal with the Suns.
Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images
It’s the third consecutive season that Phoenix has fired its head coach, as Monty Williams was canned after a 45-37 season the year before Vogel took over.
The three coach firings in as many seasons line up right on the timeline of Suns owner Mat Ishbia taking over the franchise, as Ishbia bought the team in the midst of the 2022-23 season, just months before Williams’ termination.
The Suns fielded the most expensive roster in the NBA this season, with the majority of that money belonging to three players — Kevin Durant, Devin Booker and Bradley Beal.
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The Suns and their big three did not reach the playoffs.
The Suns and their big three did not reach the playoffs.
IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect
Phoenix is just a few years removed from being one of the NBA’s top teams. The Suns reached the NBA Finals in 2021 and fell to the Milwaukee Bucks in six games. Milwaukee was led by Budenholzer at the time.
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Since then, the Suns have not made it past the second round in the Western Conference and the roster has almost completely turned over aside from the 28-year-old Booker.
The move to fire Budenholzer could very well be the first of many dominoes to fall this offseason in Phoenix, as the 36-year-old Durant is already swirling in trade rumors.
For Budenholzer, Phoenix was his first and only job since he was fired by the Bucks in May 2023 after five seasons with the team.
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