[7][8] By the end of 2024, the Suns would see themselves with a worse record entering 2025 than by that same point last season at 15–17, with the aftermath to their first game in 2025 resulting in the team making a significant change to their starting line-up by moving shooting guard Bradley Beal to the bench akin to his more natural shooting guard role for small forward Ryan Dunn and moving center Jusuf Nurkić to the bench (and later not playing him altogether) for Mason Plumlee, with rookie center/power forward Oso Ighodaro also receiving more playing time as well.
[18] On May 9, following weeks of deliberation after a disappointing first round exit against the Minnesota Timberwolves in the 2024 NBA playoffs, the Suns decided to fire head coach Frank Vogel after finishing only one season of his five-year, $31 million deal that he had originally signed with the team.
[21] However, after an attempt to promote David Fizdale into a front office position later in the month instead, he was reported to return to his role as an assistant coach for the Phoenix Suns on May 29.
[27] Over a month later, on July 23, Brent Barry, the San Antonio Spurs' Vice President of Basketball Operations, was reported to be the most recent hiring for Budenholzer's coaching staff.
[31] Five days after trying to get Fizdale into a front office role, it was reported that the Suns would offer former Long Island Nets general manager and then-current Brooklyn Nets vice president of strategy member Matt Tellem (son of famous sports agent Arn Tellem) a key spot on their new front office instead.
[32] Matt Tellem would eventually be announced as a new assistant general manager for the Suns (with both Trevor Bukstein (who had previously been a part of their staff since 2013) and Morgan Cato being confirmed to not return to the front office as of May 21[33]) on June 10, with former University of South Florida basketball coach Brian Gregory being named the vice president of player programming alongside the hiring of Tellem.
[35] Entering free agency, Bol Bol, Royce O'Neale, Isaiah Thomas, and Thaddeus Young would all become unrestricted free agents, though O'Neale was considered very likely to earn a contract extension before June 29 in order to take himself off the market similar to that of Grayson Allen earlier in the year (albeit for less money due to him being traded to Phoenix in February last season).
[39][40] On July 2, 2024, the Suns would officially sign former Denver Nuggets guard Collin Gillespie and Baylor University forward Jalen Bridges to two of their open two-way contract spots for the season.
[41][42] A day after that, both Mason Plumlee of the Los Angeles Clippers and Monté Morris of the Minnesota Timberwolves would officially sign one-year veteran's minimum contracts worth $3,303,771 and $2,800,834 respectively to join the team early due to the type of contracts they would sign,[43][44] with Damion Lee also officially signing a one-year veteran's minimum deal worth $2.8 million to return to the team himself and help alleviate the team's tax penalties a bit for this season.
[47] On July 10, both Ish Wainright and Eric Gordon would officially sign new contracts to play for the Hapoel Tel Aviv B.C.
[48][49] On July 13, the Suns would potentially get their last player from last season's roster returning to them via free agency by re-signing Josh Okogie on a two-year deal worth $16 million.
[51][52] Then, to round out their initial roster, on August 2, the Suns would sign Milwaukee Bucks point guard TyTy Washington Jr. to their last open two-way contract spot.
[54][55] A week after that, Udoka Azubuike would officially sign an overseas contract with the KK Budućnost Podgorica VOLI out in Montenegro.
However, as of January 21, 2025, it's likely that the second-round pick that would be given to Phoenix in this case would belong to the Nuggets instead due to them having a better overall record this season when compared to the 76ers.
^ II: The 2025 first-round pick Phoenix acquired from the Utah Jazz would become the lesser available selection of first-round picks between the Cleveland Cavaliers and Minnesota Timberwolves due to previous trades the Jazz did in getting rid of previous star players of theirs with shooting guard Donovan Mitchell and center Rudy Gobert, respectively.