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As Phoenix Suns fans braced for the exit, so did their players and head coach. Both Mike Budenholzer and Devin Booker spoke to reporters following the 125-112 loss, which knocked the Suns out of the playoffs.
The tension was high. After all, this loss was a microcosm of the entire season. Following a scorching 8-1 start, Phoenix finished the rest of the season as indifferent as ever. On Tuesday, Booker cited ‘no winning habits' as the factor.
24 hours later, it was more of the same. Booker explained more of how he knew this was on the horizon.
“It’s been a slow bleed out. I’ve been feeling this way a majority of the season.”
Devin Booker didn’t mince words to @DuaneRankin how he’s feeling about missing the play-in.#SunsUp pic.twitter.com/heiNasPXSc
— Hayden Cilley (@HaydenCilley) April 10, 2025
“It's been a slow bleed-out. I've been feeling this way for the majority of the season,” Booker said. “I think the small glimpses of good stretches that we've played, I know gave me hope and probably gave everybody else hope.
“You never wanted to be that you're squeezing into the last part of the play in the first place, so I expected at this point.”
Booker himself has seen both sides of the spectrum in the NBA. He's been in the deepest of valleys yet has reached the pinnacle of what the league can offer.
Following a 2021 NBA Finals appearance, Booker and others thought the Suns were destined for multiple trips. Shockingly, they haven't made the Western Conference Finals since then.
Despite trading for both Kevin Durant and Bradley Beal, that Big 3 hasn't been very big. They've shrunk in size during pivotal moments, whether due to injuries or simply being outplayed.
A blazing 8-1 start was soon negated by inept coaching decisions, benchings, and just about everything to make it difficult for players to adjust.
Simultaneously, there is an expectation on the players. They are the ones on the floor, and there were too many times were there was no care. For the team to take that leap, that's part of the culture that cannot exist.
Suns' Mike Budenholzer agrees with Devin Booker's point
Meanwhile, Budenholzer seemed at a loss for words about the abhorrent season. Even though he has led a team to a championship, that championship expectation Suns owner Mat Ishbia raved about seemed to dissolve into the Phoenix Sun.
Even with all of the coach talk, the head coach responded immediately if there was something to point out for the lack of success.
“There's not a magic message. There's not a magic video clip,” Budenholzer said. “You got to go out and do things, and we got to put them in better positions.
“We got to give them more solutions, and then you gotta go out and kind of make the plays, so you know we gotta do all those things, but there's no explanation for why we couldn't get there.”
Throughout the season, the head coach and star didn't see eye to eye. Despite the mutual respect, there was a rumor involving the two that made headlines.
Infamously, Budenholzer told Booker to vocally tone it down.
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It didn't make too much sense. Not just because of the criticism, but rather, it seems strange for a coach to tell a player to tone it down. Usually, it is a coach telling the player to speak up, or to be more assertive. Not to be more passive.
That disagreement was only a fraction of the Suns' issues this season. However, it sums it up, nicely.
How will the Suns look on Friday after missing playoffs?
Considering the Suns are out of the playoff picture as a whole, it might be a chance for the young guys to get a run. Players like Jalen Bridges, TyTy Washington Jr, and Collin Gillespie could see an increased run.
Even Booker alluded to the young guys getting an uptick in minutes.
Still, will the team play hard?
Considering that Budenholzer explained that “there have been no conversations” with management about staying as the Suns head coach this season, these next two games might be his last.
Regardless, the mentality is unknown, but at the very least, the competitive spirit will be there.
I asked Mike Budenholzer what the motivation, or if there is any, after missing the play-in game for the remainder of the season.
“You have to have some pride. We’re professionals.”#SunsUp pic.twitter.com/RYewxiH9eJ
— Hayden Cilley (@HaydenCilley) April 10, 2025
“You have to have some pride… we're professionals,” Budenholzer said. “We need to come and play Friday. Other teams have probably been in similar circumstances for longer.
“You work on as a team, getting better, work on individually getting better… it's competition. We got a chance to come play a game on Friday. We need to come and compete, embrace it and we'll decide between now and Friday exactly what that looks like but you got to come play and perform.”
The latter is the typical coach speak. If there's a silver lining in anything though, it's that the competitive spirit is still residing somewhere in the franchise.
It's unknown if the Suns starters will play. If they don't, the fans will likely witness the end of a disastrous 2024-25 season that will go down as arguably the worst in franchise history.
