Despite their best efforts, the Suns are struggling to book a spot in the playoff race. Although they were interested in breaking up their Big Three at the trade deadline by sending Kevin Durant to the Warriors, the Slim Reaper shut down those conversations, leaving the Suns with no option but to continue the season with their current roster. Now, they are stuck in an awkward situation, dangling at the eleventh seed in the West standings. Sure enough, it has led to frustration in their camp, and it became evident during tonight’s Pelicans’ clash as KD made a shocking out of character move. But he escaped the situation with no consequences!

The incident occurred in the closing minutes of the first quarter. As Durant was guarding Trey Murphy III, he ran into a hard screen from big man Karlo Matkovic. While the play continued and the focus was on Murphy attempting a three-pointer, KD took a wild swing at Matkovic, punching him in the back. However, the officials never noticed the violent act and the Suns star received no penalty. Had the refs seen the punch, Durant could have been ejected from the game.

Even Matkovic looked confused and went face to face with KD to confront him. Although some words were exchanged, the situation did not escalate any further. Meanwhile, the on-air announcers called Durant out for his actions after watching the replay, “Kevin Durant just swung at Karlo… I don’t know how the official missed that!”

Well, KD has never been someone to openly swing at an opponent, and it remains unknown what caused him to do it tonight. Thankfully, he wasn’t ejected, because the Suns cannot afford another setback amid the reports of ongoing tensions in their locker room.

Mike Budenholzer under fire once again after Reportedly telling Devin Booker to “Tone it down”

With three All-NBA calibre players leading the charge and a former Coach of the Year guiding them, the Suns have everything a team needs to win a championship, on paper. So, why are they not even in the play-in race? Well, it might be because of the unrest in their locker room. As per veteran insider Evan Sidery’s latest report, “People within the Suns’ organization say Mike Budenholzer is miserable to deal with.” Despite Coach Bud’s championship experience, his team is 16-24 in the last forty games and Sidery’s report hints that his attitude might be part of the problem.

Even a recent report by Chris Haynes revealed that Budenholzer told Devin Booker to “tone it down” because he was being too vocal on the court and during timeout huddles. Mike wanted Book to allow the coaches’ voices “to be heard.” Meanwhile, Booker has publicly addressed the communication problem within the team, “That’s been the story of the season thus far. It can be fixed with just a little more talking I’d say. Things get tough, we get quiet as a team and from my experience and what I’ve seen, that’s not the way to get through it.”

So, there is clearly a difference in opinion between the coach and his players. However, Budenholzer sees it as a positive sign, “There’s conversations I have with Devin all the time. I’m good with those conversations. We don’t always agree on everything. I think he actually appreciates it, I appreciate it. I’ll leave it there.” But the Suns’ terrible record makes it evident that something is not clicking, and until Budenholzer figures out a way to win games, the calls will continue to mount against him. What are your thoughts?