Multiple sources state that Mike Budenholzer will take over as the Phoenix Suns’ next head coach.
The club made this decision after firing Frank Vogel on Thursday, citing his previous season as having fallen “way short of our expectations.”
Less than two hours after the organization made the announcement of Vogel’s termination, Adrian Wojnarowski, Senior NBA Insider for ESPN, said on X (formerly Twitter) that sources indicated Budenholzer was becoming the clear favorite to succeed Vogel.
Additionally, same sources said ESPN on Thursday that Budenholzer had already begun putting together a coaching team and that conversations were anticipated to proceed swiftly. The organization was going to make a “eight figure deal” offer to the native of Holbrook, Arizona, according to reports from other publications on Friday.
“The Suns are expected to move lead assistant coach David Fizdale to a new front office position.” Shams Charania of the Athletic claims
The Suns have not verified the hiring rumors.
Mike Budenholzer, the head coach of the Milwaukee Bucks, challenges a call in the second half of an NBA game.
On Wednesday, December 21, 2022, in Cleveland, head coach of the Milwaukee Bucks Mike Budenholzer challenges a call in the second half of an NBA basketball game against the Cavaliers. (Photo by Ron Schwane/AP)(AP/Ron Schwane)
In 1996, Budenholzer made his NBA debut with the San Antonio Spurs, where he worked as Gregg Popovich’s assistant coach for the following 17 years. The Spurs won four NBA titles and qualified for the playoffs each season throughout that span.
In 2013, he was appointed head coach of the Atlanta Hawks for the first time. In the 2014–15 season, he guided the club to a franchise-high 60 victories, earning him the title of NBA Coach of the Year.
But the group never saw that kind of success again, and in 2018, they mutually broke up with Budenholzer. After five seasons with a 213-197 record, he departed Atlanta.
He was soon employed by the Milwaukee Bucks, and after the team’s 2021 NBA championship victory against the Suns, he was voted coach of the year for the third time.
The Bucks fired Budenholzer two years later, after five seasons, following a first-round playoff defeat to the Miami Heat.
Additionally, Budenholzer is from Arizona. Holbrook, which is around 90 miles east of Flagstaff, is the place of his birth.
For more than 20 years, his father, Vince Budenholzer, led the Holbrook Roadrunners in basketball and was their state champion in 1971. The Arizona High School Athletic Coaches Hall of Fame inducted him in 2005.
His mother, Libby Budenholzer, served as the first female member of the Holbrook city council before taking office as mayor in 1981.
In 2020, Budenholzer said to the staff of NBA.com, “I followed the Suns and they were my favorite team, but the NBA just wasn’t what it is today.” “I can still clearly recall my father teaching me Paul Westphal moves in my backyard, as well as Sweet D, Walter Davis, Double-A, Alvan Adams, and listening to Al McCoy on the calls.”
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