Phoenix Suns’ Dead Money Pool Deepens With Budenholzer Firing

The Phoenix Suns are on the hunt yet again for a head coach, their fourth in as many seasons, after firing Mike Budenholzer, who led the team through a disappointing season that was exacerbated by missing the playoffs despite having the NBA’s highest team payroll.

The team issued a statement saying its “fans deserved better” and that a change was needed. Budenholzer, a two-time NBA Coach of the Year, exits with $40 million remaining on a five-year, $50 million deal signed last year. The decision is a costly one as the Suns are now on track to have three coaches on payroll entering the 2025-2026 season. The Suns’ coaching carousel (combined with the luxury tax penalties) shows the financial hits that billionaire owner Mat Ishbia is willing to take to build a championship contender.

The Suns were also due to pay former head coach Monty Williams, who was fired in 2023 with $20 million still on his contract after signing a five-year deal in 2019. But Williams reportedly had his owed money from Phoenix offset by his most recent NBA contract with the Detroit Pistons when they hired him in 2023.

Williams was replaced by Frank Vogel, who was fired after one season when the Suns were swept in the first round of the playoffs last year. Vogel was owed $24 million of a five-year, $31 million deal. Vogel, who led the Los Angeles Lakers to an NBA title in the pandemic bubble during the 2020 season, was dismissed for under-performing with a roster that included perennial NBA All-Stars Devin Booker, Kevin Durant and Bradley Beal.

Budenholzer won an NBA title with the Milwaukee Bucks in 2021, but did even worse than Vogel with the Suns’ three stars, finishing 11th in the West despite ownership spending $366 million on payroll (including a league-leading $152 million tax bill) this past season. The Suns were the only team this year with a top-10 payroll not to qualify for the playoffs; their tax bill alone surpassed the playoff-bound Detroit Pistons’ entire payroll ($142 million).

It’s not uncommon for teams in major pro sports to pay buyouts for head coaches fired before their deal expired. The NFL’s Cleveland Browns, for example, have a history of paying coaches not to work, with several over the last decade or so being canned with years remaining on their deals.

Both Vogel and Budenholzer were hired during the new ownership of Ishbia, who purchased the team for a league record $4 billion in 2022. The United Wholesale Mortgage CEO has been aggressive since taking over. In addition to spending to acquire players, he has also invested in a slew of player-related resources, including a new training facility for his WNBA team, the Phoenix Mercury.

The outlook for next season for the Suns is murky at best. Beal, who has a no-trade clause, Booker and Durant will again take a large chunk of the league salary cap. Meanwhile, Suns general manager James Jones, who oversaw the team’s NBA Finals run in 2021-22, is on a contract set to expire this offseason.

The team also has mortgaged the future by sending noteworthy draft capital to acquire stars like Durant (four first-round picks to land him in 2023). Oddsmakers are pointing to former Nuggets coach Michael Malone and former Grizzlies coach Taylor Jenkins as candidates for the Suns’ job—one of the league’s true hot seats.