The NBA's second season is about to get underway, but the Phoenix Suns will be watching the action unfold from home. A miserable season that is thankfully over, and it now feels like the franchise are waiting to see what teams underperform in the playoffs before making their next move.
The expectation is that Kevin Durant has indeed played his last game in Phoenix, with the Houston Rockets emerging as a candidate to trade for him this summer. Should they go on a deep playoff run, then they could likely talk themselves into being a Durant away from true contention. Get sent packing by the Golden State Warriors however, and they might decide to hold with what they have.
Mike Budenholzer massively disrespected by the Suns.
We know the Suns will have a new head coach next season - their fourth in four campaigns - with owner Mat Ishbia saying on the record that this is not a process that is going to be handled quickly. A new appointment is not going to happen in the next few weeks, with Ishbia sounding like the right kind of owner in how he owed up to the shortcomings of the 2024-25 season.
Media members also heard from General Manager James Jones - who himself could be out of a job soon - as well as CEO Josh Bartelstein as part of the organization's exit interviews. Budenholzer, who could not have been let go by the franchise any quicker if they tried, was not part of the exit interviews. That was by design, with the Suns eager to get him out of town as quickly as possible.
Did the Suns consider firing Mike Budenholzer during the season?
— Arizona Sports (@AZSports) April 18, 2025
Suns owner Mat Ishbia shares his thoughts on that question with @BurnsAndGambo. pic.twitter.com/pUdTUEcfpm
In the above interview with the "Burns & Gambo Show", Ishbia alluded to their being a lot going on behind the scenes that ultimately led to Budenholzer lasting only one season in Phoenix. It makes sense then that they would ensure he couldn't get in front of the media to give his own version of events - not to censor him - but to just put this awful season behind everybody immediately.
The Suns now need to move on, but it is interesting that they at least allowed previous head coach Frank Vogel to have an exit interview before canning him. Perhaps they knew that - given the chance - Budenholzer would have had some explosive things to say, because there is no doubt he knew his time in The Valley was over.
The same was likely true of Vogel last season however, yet the organization decided to let him speak to media and give it a little more time, before calling it quits on their partnership. This points to something much bigger going on over the course of the season, and Budenholzer was likely a large part of the problem.
His relationship with Devin Booker doesn't appear to have been great, while rumors he asked Bradley Beal to play more like Jrue Holiday were not met well. Ironically though, getting Beal to be more like Holiday is both something fans would have wanted to see, and likely led to more games one as well. Budenholzer is going to have his say one day, and it will be worth listening to.