1 day Ago By Steve DelVecchio, Yardbarker
Kevin Durant has been openly frustrated with Phoenix Suns head coach Mike Budenholzer at times this season, and a new report shed light on one of the reasons for that. Durant and Budenholzer were seen having a heated sideline exchange during the Suns' game against the Los Angeles Clippers on March 4. The two traded words again a couple of weeks later, which has led to speculation that Phoenix might move on from Durant and/or Budenholzer after the season.
In a story he published on Tuesday examining what has gone wrong for the Suns this season, Logan Murdock of The Ringer shared some information about why Durant was angry with Budenholzer last month. When KD barked at his coach during the Clippers game, the 15-time All-Star was said to be "pleading with his coach to simplify the team’s offensive concepts to something better suited to the Suns’ younger players." Durant downplayed the incident and chalked it up to both him and Budenholzer wanting to win.
He also praised the coach for giving him the freedom to "voice my opinion." The Suns entered Monday with a record of 35-40 and one game out of the Western Conference play-in tournament. Durant is sure to be at the center of trade rumors again during the summer, though it sounds like he is open to returning to Phoenix .
If the disagreements between Durant and Budenholzer only pertain to basketball, they can probably work through them. When personal issues creep in, that is when the dynamic becomes a lot more complicated. Steve is a veteran writer who has covered a variety of sports and pop culture topics for more than 15 years.
In addition to Yardbarker, his work has been featured on prominent digital publications including Larry Brown Sports, MSN and FOX Sports. The UConn graduate has published more than 40,000 stories and is one of the most experienced trending news writers in the country.
