The Phoenix Suns were officially eliminated from postseason contention Wednesday night after a 125-112 home loss to the short-handed Oklahoma City Thunder.
Jalen Williams led the Western Conference leaders with 33 points, and the Thunder used a 43-point third quarter to erase a halftime deficit and secure their 66th win of the season.
Phoenix fell to 35-45 with the defeat, dropping its eighth consecutive game and missing the playoffs for the first time since 2020.
Following the game, Suns head coach Mike Budenholzer addressed reporters with a candid assessment of both the loss and the season as a whole.
“We had a lead at halftime and didn’t come out and meet their level of aggressiveness,” Budenholzer said postgame when asked about the team’s third-quarter collapse.
The Suns were outscored 43-26 in the third, committed multiple turnovers, and gave up numerous transition baskets as the Thunder surged ahead.
Without Kevin Durant, who missed the contest due to a lingering ankle injury, Phoenix relied on Bradley Beal and Devin Booker to carry the scoring load.
Beal finished with 25 points on 8-of-17 shooting, while Booker posted 20 points and a season-high 14 assists.
Despite those numbers, Phoenix struggled to keep pace with Oklahoma City’s depth and ball movement.
The Thunder, playing without Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Luguentz Dort, and Isaiah Hartenstein, shot 52.3% from the field and scored 22 points off 13 Suns turnovers.
With the regular season winding down and no path to the playoffs, the focus has already shifted to Budenholzer’s future with the franchise.
When asked directly whether he had been given any assurance from team owner Mat Ishbia about returning next season, Budenholzer responded, “No. Like I said, it’s raw. We just lost. There’ve been no conversations.”
This marks the second consecutive year that Phoenix failed to meet championship expectations despite an All-Star core that includes Durant, Booker, and Beal.
The Suns hired Budenholzer on May 11, 2024, on roughly $10 million per year just two days after firing Frank Vogel following a first-round exit.
Now, less than a year later, the franchise faces yet another potential coaching decision.
“We haven’t been as good as we need to be, as we expected to be,” Budenholzer acknowledged. “We’ve got to process it, learn from it. All of us have to figure out how to take this and be better going forward.”
Durant’s availability for the final game of the season remains unclear, and Budenholzer suggested that decisions about playing time for the star forward and other veterans would be made within the next 24 hours.
Even with no playoff implications, Budenholzer emphasized the importance of professionalism and effort in Friday’s season finale.
“You have to have some pride. We’re professionals. We need to come and play Friday,” he said. “We’ve got a chance to come play a game. We need to come and compete and embrace it.”
The Suns opened the 2024-25 campaign with an 8-1 record but stumbled to a 27-44 finish over their last 71 games.
Phoenix enters the final weekend of the season tied with Portland for 11th in the West, far outside the Play-In Tournament picture.
Oklahoma City, meanwhile, has won 21 of its last 23 games and will face the winner of the Play-In Tournament in the opening round of the playoffs.
The loss to the Thunder not only ended the Suns’ playoff chances but also triggered a wave of questions about the franchise’s next steps.
With Budenholzer not guaranteed a second year and the core group facing uncertainty, Phoenix could be heading for another offseason of major changes.
