Jusuf Nurkic invited his new head coach to spend the summer training with him at his facility in Split, Croatia. Ahead of the 2024-25 season, he told reporters that the man had been “all about his words” from day one, and different from any coach he had played under. Nurkic said he didn’t doubt the invitation would be accepted, but acknowledged it was still the NBA, where people “say a lot of things you want to hear.”

What he didn’t anticipate was that, by February, he and that same coach wouldn’t have spoken for two months. What came in between is now the subject of the most explosive coaching exposé of the NBA offseason. On an episode of the X&O’s Chat podcast, Nurkic alleged that former Phoenix Suns head coach Mike Budenholzer was battling a drinking problem throughout the 2024–25 season. According to the Bosnian center, it seeped into everything from the practice environment to personal meetings with players.

“Then later you find out that the guy really was,” Nurkic said. “I don’t know if this should be said, but an alcoholic, someone who genuinely had a drinking problem. People knew about it.”

The allegation arrived over a year after the Suns fired Budenholzer following a 36-46 season that saw the team miss the playoffs entirely, and months during which the full internal story had remained largely untold.

Nurkic described a locker room atmosphere that deteriorated sharply from the opening of training camp.

“A situation came where he became extremely negative from the very first day,” he said. “Toward everyone. Literally, there was no difference whether it was Booker, me, or someone else… every single practice was: ‘You’re no good. You’d be better off just getting dressed and leaving.’”

Nurkic said Budenholzer would schedule one-on-one meetings with players simply to provoke them, with no productive intent behind the sessions.

“He no longer cared about how anyone felt,” Nurkic added, “and in that kind of team, that was probably one of the most important things.”

The accusations carry particular weight given the stature of the man being accused. Budenholzer won the 2021 NBA title with the Milwaukee Bucks and is a two-time Coach of the Year winner, having also spent 17 years learning the craft under Gregg Popovich in San Antonio. 

While Budenholzer arrived in Phoenix with a sterling reputation as a proven winner, questions remain about whether this season represented an isolated collapse or part of a deeper pattern.

In Milwaukee, where he won the 2021 title and two Coach of the Year awards, Budenholzer was generally praised for building strong player relationships, particularly with Giannis Antetokounmpo, though his final season ended with reports of a fraying locker room and his eventual dismissal after a first-round playoff exit.

His long tenure as a Gregg Popovich assistant in San Antonio was marked by stability and respect, with no public reports of similar behavioral issues. That said, Budenholzer does have a documented history with alcohol: he was arrested for DUI in 2013 while coaching the Atlanta Hawks (charges of which he was later acquitted, with very low blood-alcohol readings).

No prior public allegations of ongoing drinking problems surfaced during his successful Milwaukee or San Antonio years.

Compounding any personal struggles, Budenholzer endured a profound family tragedy in April 2023 when one of his brothers died in a car accident just before Game 4 of the Bucks’ first-round playoff series against the Miami Heat.

He continued coaching through the immediate aftermath without publicly disclosing the loss, a period that coincided with the end of his tenure in Milwaukee.

The extent to which the grief from that loss or any lingering effects may have intensified in Phoenix amid the high-pressure environment of a star-laden roster and the eventual 36-46 collapse remains unclear.

Nurkic’s account, however, paints a picture of a coach whose demeanor had markedly deteriorated from the version that once delivered a championship.

His mandate was to unlock the potential of the Suns’ All-Star trio of Kevin Durant, Devin Booker and Bradley Beal. 

Nurkic Says Budenholzer Tried to Teach Kevin Durant How to Score, and the Locker Room Knew It Was Over

Kevin Durant arrived in Phoenix as a two-time champion. As one, hoping to redeem himself and win a title without Steph Curry. Durant came as a winner, and what he was turned into shocked Nurkic.

“He was literally explaining to KD how to make a basket,” Nurkic said on the podcast. “If he were telling me, or Gordon, or Royce, or Grayson, or anyone else, okay. But explaining to Kevin Durant how to score? That’s like explaining to a pilot how to fly an airplane.”

Durant is one of the most prolific scorers in NBA history, with over 32,000 career points, ranking fifth all-time. 

The Suns had started the 2024-25 season at 9-2 before their play completely collapsed. They finished 36-46 and missed the playoffs despite carrying the league’s largest payroll. NBA insider Chris Haynes reported that Budenholzer had told Nurkic in a private meeting that he was “a bad teammate” who “refused to set quality screens.”

Nurkic was eventually traded to the Charlotte Hornets in February. Reporting from The Athletic noted that “Budenholzer’s inability to manage his locker room had everything to do with the decision” to fire him, a conclusion Nurkic’s podcast appearance now puts in sharp relief from the inside.

Budenholzer currently has no coaching job in the NBA and is not linked to any vacant positions. He has not publicly responded to Nurkic’s claims. Whether anyone else from that Suns roster steps forward to corroborate Nurkic’s account remains to be seen.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​