Jusuf Nurkic did not hold back when discussing his experience under former Phoenix Suns head coach Mike Budenholzer. Now with the Utah Jazz after being traded away from Phoenix, Nurkic appeared on the X&O’s Chat podcast and delivered a stunning critique of Budenholzer’s leadership style during their brief time together with the Suns.
According to Nurkic, the problems inside Phoenix went far beyond basketball.
“He was literally explaining to Kevin Durant how to score a basket. If he had been telling me, or Gordon, or Royce O’Neale, or Grayson Allen, whatever. But explaining to Kevin Durant how to score? That’s like explaining to a pilot how to fly a plane. Not just for me, but for everyone, the whole system felt so absurd. The situation we were in. The environment we were in.”
“Then you find out, well, I don’t even know if I should say this, but the guy was an alcohol addict. He was really having a problem with it. He would schedule one on one meetings just to provoke people. He’d tell Bradley, Grayson Allen, ‘You have no idea. You need to be this. You need to be that.'”
“You’d just sit there and couldn’t believe what you were hearing. He would come to me and say, ‘You’re a bad teammate.’ I told him, ‘Listen man, we can talk about anything. Whether I’m playing well or badly. Whether I can improve. Whatever. But for you to tell me that…’ He was like this camera right there, small, and just picking fights and provoking people.”
The comments represent one of the strongest public criticisms of an NBA coach by a former player in recent memory.
The tension between Nurkic and Budenholzer was well documented throughout the 2024-25 season. After arriving in Phoenix with championship expectations, Budenholzer quickly made a major lineup change by removing Nurkic from the starting lineup and replacing him with Mason Plumlee.
It was the first time since 2017 that Nurkic had regularly come off the bench.
Their relationship deteriorated rapidly from there. At one point, Nurkic openly admitted that he and Budenholzer essentially had no relationship. Reports later surfaced that Budenholzer had criticized Nurkic during private meetings, allegedly calling him a bad teammate and questioning aspects of his game.
Eventually, the Suns moved on from Nurkic at the trade deadline, sending him away as part of a larger roster shakeup. The season itself was a disaster for Phoenix.
Despite boasting a star-studded roster featuring Kevin Durant, Devin Booker, and Bradley Beal, the Suns finished just 36-46 and failed to qualify for the playoffs. That disappointing campaign ultimately cost Budenholzer his job. The Suns fired the former NBA champion coach after only one season in charge.
Now, months later, Nurkic has offered a revealing glimpse into what may have contributed to one of the most disappointing seasons in franchise history.
Whether Budenholzer responds to the allegations remains to be seen, but Nurkic’s comments are certain to generate significant discussion around one of the NBA’s most turbulent coaching tenures in recent years.
