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The Phoenix Suns had a disappointing 2023-24 season that saw them underachieve their way to the sixth seed in the NBA Western Conference before falling in the first round of the NBA Playoffs to the Minnesota Timberwolves.
After that kind of disappointment, one would think that Suns star Kevin Durant is stressing over the team's makeup for next year. Not so, says Durant:
“I like our team. We got me, Bradley Beal, and Devin Booker… I felt like we gave a lot of games away last year. I like where we are.”
Kevin Durant on the Suns’ disappointing end to the season 🗣️
(via @ESPNNBA) pic.twitter.com/WHqpuap2bQ
— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPoints) July 10, 2024
Durant told ESPN, “I like our team. We got me, Bradley Beal, and Devin Booker… I felt like we gave a lot of games away last year. I like where we are.”
The Suns are hamstrung by the salary cap and a lack of picks, so it's a good thing that Durant likes the team as is. Owner Mat Ishbia shared a similar sentiment after the team was eliminated from the postseason.
“Oh, it's extremely fixable. I mean, let's, let's just be real, although this isn't a cool narrative and the national media really won't want to play it out there, but like, ask the other 29 GMs, 26 of them would trade their whole team for our whole team and our whole, and our draft picks and everything as is, like, The house is not on fire. We're in great position. It's not hard to fix. It's not like we're like, ‘Hey, we don't have enough talent to win a championship.' We have enough talent to win a championship. Right. Did we, do we have enough continuity? We have time together. Like there's a lot of things we can look at.”
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Suns hope Mike Budenholzer can unlock Kevin Durant, rest of team
The Suns didn't take long to make changes in the aftermath of a first-round sweep at the hands of the Minnesota Timberwolves. Not even 24 hours after relieving Frank Vogel of his head coaching duties, the Suns hired Mike Budenholzer as his replacement.
Budenholzer's contract is worth more than $50 million over five years.
Budenholzer most notably coached the Milwaukee Bucks to a championship in 2021, and, poetically, it was the Suns that Budenholzer defeated in the NBA Finals three years ago despite going down 2-0 early on in the series. Now, he'll be expected to make the most out of Phoenix's expensive core of Kevin Durant, Devin Booker, and Bradley Beal as they try to put their disappointing 2023-24 season in the rearview mirror.
Frank Vogel has his strengths as a coach, but clearly, the Suns felt like a change in leadership was necessary after it seemed like the team underperformed relative to its potential. It got to a point where some Suns players reportedly couldn't take Vogel seriously, as evidenced by their reaction to an outburst from the head coach during a game late in the regular season against the Los Angeles Clippers.
Budenholzer and Milwaukee bowed out of the playoffs in just five games in 2023 despite being the one-seed, and Budenholzer was scapegoated as a result. Perhaps a change of scenery and a new cast of players could help rejuvenate his coaching career.
