The situation in Phoenix is getting ugly pretty quickly with stars not knowing what the future holds for them.
Bradley Beal has been forced onto the bench as the side looks for a trade and now Jusuf Nurkic has been removed from the rotation entirely.
Nurkic did not feature in the Suns’ much-needed 123-115 win over the confident Atlanta Hawks who were riding a wave following Trae Young’s magical buzzer-beater.
The Bosnian center has been out of favour since his heated moment with Mavericks Naji Marshall, he was ejected from the game and coach Budenholzer was far from pleased.
Following the game he said: “I think that level of altercation is not good for our team,” Nurkic has struggled to get back into the team ever since.
When sides are in a tough moment conversation is more important than ever, it seems to be missing at the Suns.
After securing just their second win in seven games the Suns still sit with a poor 17-19 record as they look for a way to get their super team clicking.
Nurkic was averaging a solid 24 minutes per game before the Mavericks incident and has since appeared just twice securing 14 and 19 minutes.
It appears much like the situation with Beal that the Suns are trying to use Nurkic as trade bait. Whether this would have any link to a potential Jimmy Butler deal remains to be seen.
With regards to his immediate Suns future, Nurkic told reporters that Budenholzer didn’t discuss with him whether he would play against Atlanta.
It’s never easy for a player to accept being dropped from the starting line-up, and even worse not being involved in the sides rotation at all.
Nurkic was seemingly left in the dark over his absence from the team against the Hawks and coach Budenholzer was questioned why he wasn’t involved.
Budenholzer told the media: “Just went with Mason and Oso. Always just trying to figure out what’s best for the team and find the right combinations, the right group.”
A follow-up question asked if it was a matchup deal with Nurkic, and the answer was pretty unanimous.
“No, we just went with Mason and Oso,” he said.
It appears that Budenholzer is keeping his cards close to his chest over the future of Nurkic, a resolution for himself and Beal will need to be found soon though if the Suns want to move forward.
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