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Duane Rankin: "Incredible mind. Always prepared, always thinking. He was so smart. So intelligent, so detail oriented." Suns coach Jordan Ott when asked about Hawks coach Quin Snyder as both were on Hawks staff under Mike Budenholzer. On Grayson Allen (right quad contusion) being out: "Just the swelling. Knee to a quad. Kind of regulating the swelling."
Jim Owczarski: Doc Rivers joined Giannis Antetokounmpo in emphasizing that the #Bucks need to do a GREAT video tribute to Khris Middleton on Wednesday. Last year, Antetokounmpo voiced his displeasure that Mike Budenholzer did NOT get a tribute when he returned to Milwaukee for the first time.
Law Murray: Former 🏆 Bucks head coach Mike Budenholzer has been a visitor at Clippers training camp this week Asked Brook Lopez about Bud: "He picked me up at a point in my career where I wasn't sure what was going to happen. I didn't have very many contract offers… he gave me a lifeline" pic.x.com/TzpUvX0iyx
Mike Budenholzer and Tom Thibodeau are here at Clippers training camp today. pic.twitter.com/dAfJWlqEL0
— Justin Russo (@FlyByKnite) September 30, 2025
The Suns are now being led by first-year NBA head coach Jordan Ott. While Thibodeau doesn’t have any known connections to players or staffers in Phoenix, it appears that the team has tabbed him to help provide some insights to their rookie coach Ott (who took over in June for the fired Mike Budenholzer). Thibodeau, now 67, was himself fired by the New York Knicks in June after five seasons in charge (being replaced by Mike Brown). Though Thibodeau won a Coach of the Year Award with the Knicks in 2021 and just led the team to their first Eastern Conference Finals berth in a quarter-century, that was still not enough for him to keep his job in New York. It is unclear if Thibodeau intends to coach in any capacity during the 2025-26 season or if he plans to use it as a gap year. But Thibodeau was graceful even after his firing by the Knicks, and he shouldn’t have any trouble finding a new NBA coaching job of some sort if he so desires.
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Durant repeatedly complained both publicly and privately about Kerr’s offensive principles during his final season with the Warriors, and he continued to do so even after he left for Brooklyn. The two have since reconciled, but league sources identify Kerr as among the reasons Durant opted not to return to Golden State at the trade deadline. In Gotham, Durant had similar critiques of Nash’s concepts, and the coach was later fired during Durant’s last season. And this past season, cameras routinely caught him in verbal spars with Suns coach Mike Budenholzer, urging him to simplify the offense, yelling at him during possession changes, or pouting in the corner in protest as the offense flowed without him.
League sources informed The Arizona Republic last month that Budenholzer’s assistants were kept because they’re under contract. Chaisson Allen and Schuyler Rimmer attended Ott’s news conference.
Kendrick Perkins:Obviously, he's going to be traded from the reports before the draft or maybe on draft night. I would like to tell the teams out there that's actually looking to get Kevin Durant approach with cautions. Okay? Because Kevin Durant is not a needle mover in my opinion no more when it comes down to if you're trying to win a championship and this is not something that I'm making up. This is facts, right? Like he hasn't moved the needle. Brooklyn Nets, one of the biggest busts in NBA history with that Big Three in Kevin Durant, James Harden and Kyrie Irving. Move over, you go to the Phoenix Suns, another bust with another big three. Two firings of two championship coaches in Frank Vogel and Mike Budenholzer.
Jake Fischer: There's a ton of skepticism around the league that Michael Malone—with a similar personality and coaching style to Tom Thibodeau—is going to ultimately be the man on New York's sideline at the end of the day. I'd say there's also plenty of skepticism that Mike Budenholzer would be that man as well. So I think we're going to hear names that are potentially lower down on the totem pole in terms of proven veteran playoff success. I think we're going to be hearing names like Mike Brown, the former head coach in Sacramento—his name's already been linked to the job. Taylor Jenkins, the former Grizzlies head coach, might be the most respected coach available on the market right now. There are a ton of questions about whether or not New York will go back to their own well and try to bring Cavs assistant Johnny Bryant back to Madison Square Garden. That's not something I've been able to confirm yet, but it's definitely something people are wondering about, as he was a finalist for the head coaching job in Phoenix and, of course, was part of the Eastern Conference–leading Cleveland Cavaliers coaching staff this season.
After firing Mike Budenholzer on April 14 and naming Gregory as the new GM on May 1, the Suns embarked on a comprehensive coaching search. Gregory led a multi-round process that began with over 15 coaching interviews. A group of approximately eight candidates had second-round meetings before five -- Johnnie Bryant, Jordan Ott, Miami's Chris Quinn, Oklahoma City's Dave Bliss and current staff member David Fizdale -- advanced to in-person visits with team officials last week. Suns franchise cornerstone Devin Booker has been involved in the search process over the last seven to 10 days, sources said.
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As The Stein Line first reported Saturday, Suns star Devin Booker has been speaking to candidates as part of the interview process in this third round of the search for Mike Budenholzer's successor. Phoenix is said to have interviewed more than 15 candidates in Round 1 before narrowing down to nine candidates for Round 2.
As covered here in depth Sunday, Phoenix has moved onto the second round of its hunt for Mike Budenholzer's successor, with eight candidates from the assistant coaching ranks confirmed by The Stein Line advancing to Round 2: Brooklyn's Steve Hetzel, Cleveland's Johnnie Bryant and Jordan Ott, Dallas' Sean Sweeney, Miami's Chris Quinn, Minnesota's Micah Nori, New Orleans' James Borrego and Budenholzer staff holdover David Fizdale. My old podcast partner Chris Haynes reported Sunday that Oklahoma City's Dave Bliss also still remains under consideration.
Michael Scotto: Sources: Hornets assistant Josh Longstaff is among the candidates for the Suns head coaching job. He was an assistant for Bulls coach Billy Donovan, former Bucks coach Mike Budenholzer, Team USA for Jeff Van Gundy, Erie BayHawks head coach, a Knicks assistant, and worked for OKC.
Gerald Bourguet: Mat Ishbia on Mike Budenholzer and the Suns' next head coach: "We've gotta get the next hire right, and we will....There's a lot of reasons why coach Bud is not here, I'm not gonna get into all of those, but we definitely should've won more games"