Suns fire Mike Budenholzer after one train wreck of a season

The Suns have fired head coach Mike Budenholzer after they finished with a 36-46 record, didn’t sniff a playoff-clinching top-six seed and missed the play-in tournament by three games.

The franchise hired Budenholzer on a five-year deal for more than $50 million less than a year ago following a 49-33 season and a first-round playoff exit under then-head coach Frank Vogel. 

It’s the third consecutive season that Phoenix has fired its head coach, as Monty Williams was canned after a 45-37 season the year before Vogel took over.

The Suns fielded the most expensive roster in the NBA this season, with the majority of that money belonging to three players — Kevin Durant, Devin Booker and Bradley Beal.

Phoenix reached the NBA Finals in 2021 and fell to the Milwaukee Bucks in six games. Milwaukee was led by Budenholzer at the time.

Since then, the Suns have not made it past the second round in the Western Conference and the roster has almost completely turned over aside from the 28-year-old Booker.

For Budenholzer, Phoenix was his first and only job since he was fired by the Bucks in May 2023 after five seasons with the team.