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Phoenix Suns fire coach Mike Budenholzer

On3 imageby:Sam Gillenwater•04/14/25•

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Mike Budenholzer
John Hefti | Imagn Images

The Phoenix Suns brought in Mike Budenholzer last offseason to be the franchise’s next head coach after he’d spent a season away from the sidelines. Now, the team has decided to fire the head coach after just one season, per ESPN’s Shams Charania.

The franchise disappointed with a 36-46 record and missed the NBA Playoffs as their season ended on Sunday. Phoenix has since released a statement in the wake of the news.

“OFFICIAL: The Phoenix Suns announced today that the organization has relieved head coach Mike Budenholzer of his duties,” the franchise posted. “The Suns released the following statement: Competing at the highest level remains our goal, and we failed to meet expectations this season. Our fans deserve better. Change is needed.”

Budenholzer is the fourth firing in the NBA, and first of the offseason, after three notable dismissals came in-season. The Sacramento Kings fired Mike Brown back in December, while the Memphis Grizzlies fired Taylor Jenkins and the Denver Nuggets fired Michael Malone in surprising moves over the past three weeks.

This means that Phoenix will be on their fourth head coach in as many seasons come tip-off next year. The team fired Monty Williams, despite a turnaround of the franchise since the bubble that saw them reach as high as the NBA Finals in a season where he was also named NBA Coach of the Year. Subsequently, the team hired and then fired Frank Vogel after just one season there.

That almost made it fairly obvious that the Suns would move on from Budenholzer considering they posted their worst record in a half-decade at 36-46 overall. As the No. 11 seed in the Western Conference, it left them three games shy of making the Play-In Tournament in their first full-on miss of the postseason since 2019.

This is now the latest big move for the Suns under the ownership of Matt Ishbia. During his time as owner, Phoenix has traded for Kevin Durant and Bradley Beal, as well as Jusuf Nurkić, to pair alongside Devin Booker. However, in their two seasons as a trio with Booker, Durant, and Beal, the team and players have seen some regression. That’s in part led to the mark of 85-79 with one miss of the playoffs and last year’s appearance in the postseason being a sweep of them by the Minnesota Timberwolves.

The deals for Durant and Beal have also had an effect, both in the present and future, off the court. The Suns had the highest payroll in the league, with them well over the luxury tax at both the first and second aprons. Those trades also mortgaged their future away to other teams since they involved 10 picks, four being in the first round, and five pick swaps over the next few years in the NBA Draft. With that, it’s a roster that could now see several changes, along with the staff, for next season.

The Suns have not had a season in the last year or two to justify those kinds of investments. That’s why someone like Budenholzer paid his own price with Phoenix set to have a fourth head coach now in as many seasons.