The Phoenix Suns have completed their coaching search in one day.
The team reportedly has agreed to a deal with former Milwaukee Bucks head coach Mike Budenholzer to replace Frank Vogel, who was fired as head coach on Thursday. The Athletic's Shams Charania reports Budenholzer received a five-year deal worth more than $50 million from Phoenix.
Budenholzer will be the Suns' third head coach in three seasons.
The organization fired 2021-22 NBA Coach of the Year Monty Williams after the team fell in the second round of the 2023 playoffs. Vogel was then brought in to coach the Suns' newly assembled trio of Kevin Durant, Devin Booker and Bradley Beal. The championship-winning coach was fired after just one season, as the Suns went 49-33 in the regular season before getting swept by the Minnesota Timberwolves in the first round of the playoffs.
Budenholzer, 54, is an Arizona native. He spent five seasons as the head coach of the Atlanta Hawks before taking the same role with the Bucks in 2018 and helped guide Milwaukee to its first championship in 50 years, leading the team to a 2021 NBA Finals triumph over the Suns. Budenholzer was fired in May 2023 after the top-seeded Bucks lost to the No. 8 Miami Heat in the first round and he did not coach in 2023-24.
The Suns are expected to offer David Fizdale, a lead assistant on Vogel's staff, a front office role, but he is not expected to accept it, The Athletic reported.
NBA
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