What incident led to Bol Bol falling out of Suns rotation?
Suns big man Bol Bol went from surprise addition to the rotation to a nonfactor midway through last season. So, what happened?
Bol Bol #11 of the Phoenix Suns dunks during the first half against the New Orleans Pelicans at PHX Arena on February 28, 2025 in Phoenix, Arizona. (Photo by Chris Coduto/Getty Images)
(Photo by Chris Coduto/Getty Images)
Phoenix Suns reserve big man Bol Bol surprisingly found himself squarely in the rotation for just 16 games last year.
Across the sample size that included 10 starts, he brought added offense and length to the rotation on the way to 11.3 points per game on 51.1% shooting and 34.7% from long range. He chipped in 4.9 rebounds and 1.4 blocks across 21 minutes per game.
But just as it looked like Bol had carved out a consistent role, his role suddenly was no more. The big man recorded just 29 minutes across the final 16 games of the Suns season. He only appeared in six of those final 16 matchups, leaving many to wonder what was going on behind the scenes.
Well on Friday, NBA insider Chris Haynes pulled back the curtain surrounding his benching and how it stemmed from a March 12 altercation between Houston’s Steven Adams and Phoenix’s Mason Plumlee.
“The Suns were playing the Rockets when Steven Adams and Mason Plumlee got into that little scuffle on the ground. Players start to run and pull other players off, (but) Bol was in the background shooting layups,” Haynes said Friday. “He didn’t run to the incident.
“League sources told me coach (Mike) Budenholzer was irate when he saw that Bol did not run to the defense of his teammate. Bol, after being in the rotation for over a month, was out of the rotation for the remainder of the season.”
The news behind Bol falling out of favor due to his noninvolvement during the altercation comes days after Budenholzer was fired following a 36-46 mark and no playoffs in sight.
He marks the third Suns head coach fired in as many seasons.
Suns owner Mat Ishbia told reporters and Arizona Sports’ Burns & Gambo that changes are coming this offseason, whether it be on or off the court.
“This iteration of the Phoenix Suns did not work,” Ishbia told Burns & Gambo. “I was wrong, our front office was wrong, our coaches and players were wrong because our players believed in it too.
“That’s why I had to go out there and talk to everyone (at the end-of-season press conference) and say I was wrong and we’re wrong and we owe everybody an apology and we will be better.”
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Comments
23 Comments
Maybe Bol didn't see the need to get involved as other players had already jumped in (remember Diaw and Amare being ejected after Horry violently hip checked Nash into the scorers table?). Besides, why risk getting himself ejected and fined for piling on? Regardless, being sent to purgatory for the rest of the season by Bud was way too much punishment. The guy has shown his value to the team and league.
So pretty much took the queue of the leaders of the team of KD and Book. No fight.
That ejection was complete BS by David “Spur”. Still boils my blood. If the spurs were going to beat phoenix, they should have done it fair and square. Put an ** next to that championship. Ugh. SMH