Ex-Suns Coach Ranked Among Worst in NBA

Phoenix Suns ex-coach Mike Budenholzer found himself on the wrong side of The Athletic's anonymous 2025 NBA player poll released Tuesday.

Budenholzer, who was fired last Monday after the Suns finished 36-46 and missed the playoffs in his first year in Phoenix, received the second-most votes out of 73 players who were asked "Aside from your own current coach, who is the worst coach in the league?"

Washington Wizards coach Brian Keefe garnered the most votes to the question at 24.7%, while Budenholzer was at 17.8%.

There was a caveat with this question, which several players declined to answer, as one player said: “I’m not answering because I think the coaches are really good now. You could pick one of the bottom-feeders, like (redacted coach from a bad team), but I’ve had (him as a coach), and he’s good and it’s not his fault.”

Phoenix did not find themselves in much places elsewhere on the survey, but Bradley Beal received 4.4% of the vote for the league's most overrated player, which tied him fifth behind Tyrese Haliburton (14.4%), Rudy Gobert (10.0%), Trae Young (8.9%) and Jimmy Butler (5.5%).

The Suns as a whole showed up in 16th place with 1.5% of the vote for the league's best organization and received one vote for the league's worst organization even after an abysmal 2024-25 season.

A lot changes are on the horizon for Phoenix this offseason. Budenholzer's firing was the first one after a disastrous first year in the Valley, and owner Mat Ishbia explained why the Suns moved on from him in his end-of-season press conference last Thursday.

"The team and the roster that was constructed by (general manager James Jones), (CEO Josh Bartelstein), the scouts, the front office is much better than a 36-win roster," Ishbia said. "There's a lot of reasons why Coach Bud's not here. I'm not going to get to all those reasons, but definitely believe we should have won a lot more games and been a lot more competitive during those games as well.

"Wish him the best, but it was the wrong coach for our organization and for that team, and at the end of the day, you can blame me for it, because I'm the owner at the end of the day."

Several reports and stories have come out since Budenholzer's firing that he failed to connect with his key players, mainly the franchise cornerstone in Devin Booker.

The Suns will look to not find themselves as an answer to the coaching question next year, as they will now search for their fourth coach in four seasons.