As one of several teams attempting lineup changes midway through 2024-2025, the Phoenix Suns and Mike Budenholzer decided to bench Bradley Beal and Jusuf Nurkic in favor of Ryan Dunn and Mason Plumlee. While the change has worked for Beal, the same cannot be said for Nurkic through the first five games.
Beal has thrived as a scorer off the bench but Nurkic has fallen completely out of the rotation. After the Suns' 114-106 win over the Utah Jazz on Jan. 11, Budenholzer was asked by reporters about Nurkic's second consecutive DNP.
“Yeah, we went with Mason [Plumlee] and Oso [Ighodaro] again,” Budenholzer said after the game, via Gerald Bourguet of PHNX Sports. “They've been good for us. We'll just continue trying to put together our best combinations… [Jusuf Nurkic] is a pro. He's gotta be ready. Everybody's earning their minutes, so we're going to need everybody as we go through the season.”
On Dec. 27, 2024, Nurkic was ejected for being involved in an on-court fight with Naji Marshall of the Dallas Mavericks. He received a three-game suspension in the aftermath and has fallen off a cliff ever since.
Nurkic's first game back was the first game after Budenholzer confirmed that Plumlee would be the team's starting center moving forward. He played just 14 minutes against the Philadelphia 76ers and 19 minutes against the Charlotte Hornets the following night. Those would be his final minutes to date, as he has been a coach's decision DNP in the Suns' two most recent outings.
In the six games since Nurkic was ejected, rookie Oso Ighodaro has averaged 18.7 minutes per game. Budenholzer briefly experimented with playing all three centers amid Nurkic's return from suspension but quickly went back to a traditional two-man rotation, with the Bosnian drawing the short end of the stick.
Suns' improvement with Mason Plumlee over Jusuf Nurkic

Since Mike Budenholzer made the lineup adjustment, the change has seemingly benefitted all parties involved except Nurkic.
In their seven games since Nurkic's ejection, the Suns have gone just 3-4. However, since officially declaring Plumlee and Dunn as starters, they have gone 3-1. Perhaps most notably, Phoenix is 2-0 in the games since Nurkic has been fully benched.
While not the scorer that Nurkic is, Plumlee is unequivocally a better playmaker in the middle. In an offense that already features Devin Booker and Kevin Durant, the Suns do not need Nurkic's scoring as much, and rather just a physical and athletic presence to execute pick-and-rolls on offense and rebound on defense.
Budenholzer has yet to officially confirm or deny if Nurkic would ever fight his way back into the rotation. For now, the team seems to be content with using him as a $70 million seat warmer.