👋 GOOD MORNING

Happy Tuesday! I’ll get to the Suns below, but for now, let’s focus on happy basketball — I hope you enjoyed yesterday’s National Championship tilt between Houston and Florida! Congrats to the Gators, who rallied from a 12-point second-half deficit to earn their third National Championship in school history. Houston had a fantastic season, and truly represented the Big 12 well in their journey to the final.

Another college basketball season is in the books — hard to believe, but that also means we’re on the cusp of the NHL and NBA Playoffs — what a great time of year.

On to the show!

The Suns Massively Underachieved This Season, So What’s Next?

Yes, the NBA season technically isn’t over. But let’s be honest here for a minute: The Suns have four games remaining in their season, have lost six straight games, and are 2.5 games behind the Dallas Mavs for the final postseason play-in spot.

All signs point to an early offseason, which is a stunning result for a team that many expected to compete deep into the playoffs.

So what now?

Something Has Got to Give For The Suns

This one starts at the top. Is the issue with coach Mike Budenholzer, who was brought in with much fanfare, and I’ll admit, I was drinking the kool-aid as well. His hiring had all the makings of a prodigal son-type return — the hometown hero who was finally going to get the championship-starved Suns over the hump. It seemed even more like a slam-dunk hire following Phoenix’s 9-2 start to the season, but the bottom sure fell out after that. The Suns were bit by the injury bug, unable to establish any sort of consistency, and steadily descended down the Western Conference rankings.

That begs the question – should Budenholzer survive this season?

• His predecessor, Frank Vogel, was fired after one season following a 49-33 campaign, which included the No. 6 seed in the Western Conference.
• Monty Williams was fired after a 45-37 season, just two years after the Suns won the Western Conference.
• This year will mark just the third sub-.500 season in Budenholzer’s head coaching career (38-44 with Atlanta in 2013-14 and 24-58 with Atlanta in 2017-18)
• He’s a two-time coach of the year, and won an NBA Title with Milwaukee (ironically, over the Suns).

My Take: Listen, it’s tough to simply blame the head coach for the team’s problems, especially when you consider Budenholzer is the third coach in as many years for the Suns. Even so — Williams and Vogel had their teams performing at much higher levels in crunch time, and the drop-off in play from guys like Nurkić, and even Beal, shouldn’t be ignored.

I think at some point you have to wonder if the roster was constructed properly, however, I also suspect there may be something else preventing the Suns from moving on from Budenholzer — a massive buyout. I wasn’t able to find specific numbers around that, but considering the deal he signed with Phoenix was for five years and $50 million, you’d have to imagine that buyout figure is awfully significant. Can’t imagine he’s going anywhere, so we’ll see what the offseason brings.

Take A Deeper Dive: Gerald takes a look at the ​Suns’ options this offseason​ with Bradley Beal.

Musings From Around (and Sometimes Beyond) The Valley

Snakes Not-So-Alive: The Diamondbacks fell 5-1 to the Orioles last night, marking their third consecutive loss, and fourth in five games. It’s early — remember the 40-game rule — but the 5-6 D-backs are currently fourth in the NL West, behind the Giants, Padres and Dodgers.

Devilishly Good News: Both the Sun Devils football and men’s basketball teams got some good news on the recruiting front yesterday. Offensive lineman Marques Uini (3-star) committed to Dillingham’s squad over offers from Michigan, Baylor and TCU, while center Marcus Jackson (4-star) committed to Hurley’s team — a bit of good news he desperately needed.

Women’s Final Four Heads to The Valley: Congrats to UConn, which earned the women’s National Championship on Sunday, and now it’s on to next season, which just so happens to be right here in Phoenix. The 2026 Women’s Final Four will be hosted downtown at PHX Arena, hosted by Arizona State University. Maybe Molly Miller can guide the crew to a magical March run in her first season at the helm!

🧢 Tip of the Hat

Good get from Molly Miller, who has a lot of work to do in what’s basically a from-the-ground-up rebuild.