For the past three seasons, Brad Stevens and the Boston Celtics have carefully built one of the best lineups in recent basketball history. Everyone in their lineup can play defense and shoot threes (outside of Luke Kornet, who makes his offensive impact with screening and passing out of the short roll). This formula won them a title last season and has them poised to compete for another this year.
On the other side of the country, the Phoenix Suns have taken a different approach. They sacrificed depth in favor of a Big 3 of Kevin Durant, Devin Booker, and Bradley Beal.
They haven’t had the same success.
In three years, the Suns have gone through three different head coaches, with Mike Budenholzer being the most recent. He was fired following their failure to make the postseason, and rumblings have been slowly coming out regarding the drama of the season.
Bradley Beal didn't want to be Jrue Holiday
According to Chris Haynes, at the beginning of the season, Budenholzer told Beal that he wanted him to be the Suns’ Jrue Holiday.
“League sources told me, early in the season, coach Budenholzer met with Bradley Beal,” Haynes said. “And he told Bradley Beal that he wanted him to be the Jrue Holiday of this team.”
Unfortunately, Beal didn’t take kindly to that idea.
“It wasn’t well-received,” said Haynes. “You know the type of player Bradley Beal is. You know how he’s made a name for himself in this league playing his way. And to ask him to shift his game and alter it, and to say Jrue Holiday on top of that, somebody who Coach Budenholzer has won a championship with in Milwaukee, it wasn’t well-received, the way it was explained to me.”
On the Haynes Briefs Show, inside the Phoenix Suns’ turmoil and incidents that led to Mike Budenholzer losing the team and ultimately his job. Also a list of coaching candidates Suns are expected to look at. Subscribe. #haynesbriefs
— Chris Haynes (@ChrisBHaynes) April 14, 2025
Full EP: https://t.co/yDUTC9FDQt pic.twitter.com/Ryzz7OlDKT
On the one hand, Beal has the right to want to play his game the way he’s always played it. He’s been an NBA All-Star on multiple occasions by playing his style of basketball.
On the other hand, getting upset at a coach wanting him to adjust his style to the needs of the team is a bit ridiculous.
Phoenix already had two bucket-getters. Two better bucket-getters than Beal. They could have used a defense-focused, do-it-all offensive player to fill the gaps between Durant and Booker. But Beal didn’t want to do that.
Holiday has made a name for himself in the NBA, too, as one of the most well-respected, elite defenders in the association. When he got to Boston, he sacrificed a larger role, taking on fewer offensive duties in favor of helping the Celtics compete for a championship. And that plan worked.
For Beal to be upset that Budenholzer wanted him to play like Holiday speaks volumes regarding the mindset of the Suns’ locker room.