The Phoenix Suns have fired head coach Mike Budenholzer after just one season at the helm, according to a report from ESPN’s Shams Charania.
After finishing the 2024-25 season with a disappointing 36-46 record and missing the Play-In Tournament entirely, the Suns have once again decided to clean house, moving on from their second coach in as many seasons.
Budenholzer was hired last summer to a five-year deal worth over $50 million, a contract the Suns will now have to honor in full despite his premature exit.
The move marks yet another chapter in what has quickly become a volatile coaching carousel in Phoenix. The Suns fired Frank Vogel just one year ago after the team, despite finishing 49-33 and securing the sixth seed, was swept by the Minnesota Timberwolves in the first round of the 2024 playoffs.
Budenholzer was brought in with a championship pedigree, having led the Milwaukee Bucks to a title in 2021, but the pressure of managing Phoenix’s high-priced roster proved overwhelming.
This season saw more dysfunction than development. Budenholzer struggled to get the best out of the Suns’ superstar trio—Kevin Durant, Devin Booker, and Bradley Beal—with chemistry issues and injuries derailing their campaign.
The decision to bring Bradley Beal off the bench midway through the season created tension in the locker room, while Budenholzer’s heated exchange with Kevin Durant and his reportedly strained relationship with Booker further fractured the team’s dynamic.
There were few high points, and the end result was an embarrassing 11th-place finish in the Western Conference—a far cry from the championship expectations that surrounded this squad last summer.
The Suns became the first team in NBA history to assemble a $400 million roster when accounting for salaries and luxury tax penalties, and yet they couldn’t even crack the top 10 in the conference. When you spend that much, you’re expected to be title favorites, not a lottery team.
Now, the organization faces bigger questions beyond the head coaching position. The so-called “Big Three” that was supposed to lead Phoenix into a new golden era could soon be broken up.
Rumors have already started swirling around Kevin Durant, whose cryptic Twitter activity has sparked speculation that he may be on his way out. Durant turns 37 before the start of next season and may not want to waste another year in a turbulent situation.
Devin Booker, long seen as the franchise cornerstone, is also being linked to a possible move away from Phoenix. While his future is less certain, league insiders believe multiple teams will aggressively pursue him this summer.
Ironically, the only member of the trio who reportedly wants to stay is Bradley Beal, but he may be the first to go. Beal’s no-trade clause complicates any deal, but his massive contract and underwhelming performance have made him a scapegoat in the eyes of fans and media alike.
For the Suns, this offseason will be about much more than finding a new head coach. A full-scale organizational reset may be coming. The Big Three experiment has failed spectacularly, and owner Mat Ishbia now faces the difficult task of rebuilding a broken superteam.
