The Phoenix Suns have had their third-straight season ending with a coaching change, as Mike Budenholzer was unceremoniously dismissed after going 36-46 in his only season in charge of the franchise.
Budenholzer signed a contract for $50 million over five years last summer. His firing after just one season means the Suns are obligated to pay him the remaining $40 million on his contract, potentially through $10 million installments until 2029.
The Suns are also paying former coach Frank Vogel $20.6 million after hiring him for $31 million over five years for 23-24. The contract pays Vogel $5.1 million every season until 2028. Finally, Monty Williams got fired in the first year of a contract extension, with some claiming the Suns paid him between $21 and $35 million to leave.
The most generous estimate would tally the Suns paying over $80 million to these three coaches at the minimum, and nearly $100 million if Williams’ exit package stretched up to $30 million.
The 2022-23 season saw Monty Williams lose his job at the end of the season after a four-year stint where he took the franchise to three Playoff appearances with one NBA Finals run. He was replaced with Frank Vogel, who went 49-33 in his sole season with the franchise. He got fired after the Minnesota Timberwolves swept the Suns in the first round of the 2024 Playoffs.
Budenholzer easily had the worst go of it. The Suns were disconnected after the first month of the season, being among the worst teams in the NBA for the final two months. His tenure saw tension with Bradley Beal, with Budenholzer clearly not able to manage the personalities in Phoenix. He even struggled to manage Jusuf Nurkic, let alone the stars of the squad.
The Suns will pay another considerable amount this summer to land a winning head coach they’ll hope to build for long-term success with. Taylor Jenkins and Michael Malone were fired midseason by their teams. They’ll be leading candidates for the new Suns job, but it guarantees that another expensive contract will be issued by the team.
The contract that Michael Malone fetches this summer might be the highest-paid coaching contract ever due to his pedigree as not only a title-winning coach but a coach who can build a culture from scratch. The Suns can’t be in a hurry to fire their next coach after Budenholzer, so Malone likely could be the kind of name the front office could exercise patience with.
Every winning project in the NBA is a long-term project. Until the Suns start building with half an eye on the future, they will keep flaming out spectacularly. Instead of paying two max contracts’ worth of money to fired coaches, the franchise needs to pick one and stick with him for as long as possible.
