NBA Rumors: Devin Booker 'Shocked' After Budenholzer Asked Suns Star to 'Tone it Down'

Phoenix Suns head coach Mike Budenholzer reportedly took issue with star guard Devin Booker's desire to be vocal on the court and during timeouts recently, per NBA insider Chris Haynes.

The complaint "shocked" Booker, Haynes noted.

"I was told that weeks ago Mike Budenholzer called his star guard Devin Booker into his office to issue a complaint," Haynes said. "That complaint, I'm told, was that Booker was being too vocal on the court and during timeout huddles. He implored his star guard to tone it down to let the coach's voice be heard. This completely shocked Devin Booker."

In a recent press conference, Booker expressed the importance of communication on the court.

"It can be fixed with a little more talking, I would say," Booker said. "Things get tough, we get quiet as a team and from my experience and from what I've seen, that's not the way to get through it."

Booker added: "Skipping over the details and always taking the 'we'll get them next game' mentality. At some point, you got to draw a line, and it should have been drawn a long time ago. I'd rather two people say the wrong thing to each other than nobody talk at all and leave the gray area.

"It's like any job or any group project you have to do. You have to do it together. I always look at myself first, but I also talk a lot."

Booker's comments, which followed a 124-116 loss against the New Orleans Pelicans on Thursday, come amid one of the Suns' worst stretches of the 2024-25 season. With the loss to the Pelicans, Phoenix has now lost 11 of its last 13 games.

With just 23 games left this season, the Suns are sitting in 11th place in the Western Conference at 27-32 and are threatening to miss even the play-in tournament.

So far, the trio of Kevin Durant, Bradley Beal and Booker has had little success with last season ending in a first-round sweep to the Minnesota Timberwolves. Now the Suns could miss the playoffs entirely.

It's hard to diagnose what the exact issue is for Phoenix, but having a vocal point guard likely isn't the problem.

With apparent tension between Booker and Budenholzer, the Suns could have an interesting offseason ahead of them. Booker is under contract through the 2027-28 season, but if frustration continues to build, he could ask for a trade—perhaps to a team looking for a vocal guard.