Suns Expected To Hire Ex-Bucks Coach Mike Budenholzer As Coach

The Phoenix Suns are turning to an old NBA Finals foe as their next head coach. That would be none other than Mike Budenholzer, who led the Milwaukee Bucks to a championship win over the Suns, with the news first relayed by Shams Charania of The Athletic.

Budenholzer was fired at the end of last season after the Bucks lost in the first round of the NBA playoffs. The Bucks have had two coaches since and lost in the first round of the playoffs again.

Budenholzer did not coach anywhere this season. A native of Arizona, he will now be “tasked with optimizing Devin Booker, Kevin Durant, (and) Bradley Beal,” Charania wrote.

The Suns fired coach Frank Vogel for what they viewed as his failure to do the same — as the Suns also lost in the first round of the playoffs despite high expectations.

“As we said at the press conference on May 1, team leadership including myself, Josh Bartelstein, and ownership would be looking across basketball operations to determine what changes needed to be made,” Suns President of Basketball Operations and General Manager James Jones said. “After a thoughtful review of the season, we concluded that we needed a different head coach for our team. We appreciate Frank’s hard work and commitment.

“We are here to win a championship and last season was way below our expectations. We will continue to evaluate our operation and make the necessary changes to reach our championship-caliber goals. We all take accountability, and it’s my job, along with Josh and ownership, to build a championship team.”

The Suns enter the offseason with $209 million in salary, the biggest payroll of any NBA team, and face a projected luxury tax penalty of $116 million.

Ashish Mathur contributed to this report.