The Phoenix Suns are 28-32 right now, but Devin Booker does not seem to think that his relationship with the head coach is the problem.
Speaking with reporters on Sunday, the Suns star Booker was asked about the recent rumors of supposed friction between him and head coach Mike Budenholzer. Most notably, there was a report a few days ago that Budenholzer had supposedly asked Booker to tone it down vocally during games, leaving Booker “completely shocked.”
“Nah, Coach said it, too. We’ve had multiple conversations,” said Booker on Sunday, per Duane Rankin of the Arizona Republic. “I can’t seem to find one that sticks out more than the others.
“It’s a player-coach relationship,” Booker added. “When things start going bad, everybody tries to point fingers to find out what’s wrong. People are going to come up with stuff. The relationship is great. We’re on the same page, we’re trying to win, and that’s that.”
Budenholzer, the two-time Coach of the Year and 2021 NBA champion with the Milwaukee Bucks, is in his first season as the head coach of the Suns. With the team badly underperforming this year despite a league-high payroll of over $400 million (in combined salary and tax), the scrutiny on the team has reached a fever pitch right now.
Booker, who is now on his seventh head coach in Phoenix ever since being drafted by them in 2015, seems to be in for the long haul with the Suns no matter what. But Budenholzer probably isn’t nearly as safe in Phoenix, especially considering the separate unflattering report that we recently heard about him too.
