Phoenix Suns to Rebuild After Firing Mike Budenholzer

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00:00In just a 36-46 record in 2024-25's campaign, more changes for Phoenix in store this offseason.

00:10Mike Budenholzer, after only one year as the head coach in the Valley, fired yesterday, DRS, by the Suns.

00:17Yeah, and it's one of those things where, again, in the NBA, when you're in the top pro sports,

00:22top four, I should say, pro sports leagues in the United States, you're hired to be fired.

00:26You have to understand that at one point.

00:28But also understand this, you can fire 16 straight coaches and still be profitable in the NBA

00:32and be paying literally three to four to five coaching staffs at one time.

00:36When you fail that epically, things do have to change.

00:39And the one thing I do like is Ishbia buys that team and promised,

00:42hey, look, money is never going to be an issue with my franchise here.

00:45I want to go out and build a big three.

00:47It didn't work out.

00:47And it's clear that he understands it didn't work.

00:49They're going to blow that team up this summer.

00:51Whatever the fines might be that they have to pay to get the guys out of town and have extra payroll,

00:56it's going to be that.

00:57But also understand this, if you feel that you made an error with the coaching hire and you say,

01:01you know what, if I keep this guy around, I'm going to have to still pay him $10 million a year for four years,

01:05but at least I don't have to pay that out.

01:07You're going to get a new head coach in there, which is probably going to make more money than Budenholzer had,

01:10but still going to pay him $30 to $40 million just to go away.

01:14That's the price that you pay for an NBA team to try to sell.

01:17So you can look at this two different ways.

01:19You can say, boy, the owner, he doesn't have any idea what he's doing.

01:21I look at it the opposite way.

01:23This is a healthy group that said, I'm going to bring lightning into the valley.

01:26It didn't work out.

01:27I'm going to change my ways and rebuild this thing completely.

01:30And again, money's not going to be an issue.

01:32Can you imagine if Budenholzer came out at the end of the season with the owners?

01:35Like, hey, you know what?

01:36We'll work on this.

01:38But the motive was really, well, I can't fire this guy and pay him out this much until 2029 and get a new head coaching staff.

01:43I like the move.

01:44If it didn't work, just move on and try again.

01:47It's a sign of a healthy organization, even though they had a terrible season, not the owner's fault.