Suns coach 'beyond ecstatic' Dodgers won 2024 World Series ...

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Devin Booker turns 28. Here's what his Suns head coach has to say

Phoenix Suns head coach Mike Budenholzer discusses his star combo guard/wing turning 28 years old and what it means for his career.

Phoenix Suns coach Mike Budenholzer and Suns rookie Ryan Dunn are a proverbial house divided, each one aligning with the Los Angeles Dodgers and New York Yankees, respectively.

Budenholzer had a toothy smile after Suns' practice Friday about L.A. beating New York in the title-clinching Game 5 of their MLB-record 12th World Series meeting on Wednesday.

He explained why he's not partial to his home state team Arizona Diamondbacks, the Dodgers' National League West division rival. Many DBacks fans hoped L.A. would lose to New York.

"Since I'm a little bit older, when I grew up here in Arizona we had no team, so you got to pick your team and the Dodgers were my team. So I'm beyond ecstatic that they won," Budenholzer said.

The 55-year-old Budenholzer further explained that he became a Dodgers fan because the Diamondbacks didn't play their first season until 1998 when he was "well out of college and onto life." Before then, the Dodgers and San Diego Padres were the geographically closest teams to where Budenholzer was a gifted athlete in basketball, baseball, golf, and football at Holbrook High School.

Budenholzer explained that he might conditionally favor the DBacks at some point, but he'll continue bleeding Dodger blue for now.

"I'm sure I have to meet the Diamondbacks manager and front office, and I'm gonna flip to the Diamondbacks starting now, the Dodgers were my squad growing up," he said.

Budenholzer added that he almost wore his Dodgers hat to Friday's practice, the same day as their championship parade.

Dunn was raised in Long Island, New York and is a Yankees fan like the rest of his family. His early life aspirations were to become a pro baseball player like his older brother Justin Dunn, 29, who had stints as a pitcher for the Seattle Mariners and the Cincinnati Reds between 2019-2022.

"I always played baseball growing up. I played because of him (his brother). My family was actually diehard Yankees fans, so we were kind of upset that they lost the World Series," Dunn said.

Dunn said he was a pitcher like his brother, shortstop and third baseman before he began hooping in middle school.

"I hurt my elbow (in) my middle school time and I just picked up a basketball," Dunn said. "I always played for fun but I was never serious about it. But I just kept playing and I just kind of grew the love of it, and I kind of transition from a love of baseball to love of basketball. And I just said, 'You know what? I don't think I like baseball anymore.' It just wasn't fun for me. I like playing basketball, so I just decided let's just put the glove down and pick the basketball up."

That wasn't a bad choice.

The 3-and-D specialist Dunn entered the NBA out of Virginia as a sophomore in June, and has been widely considered by NBA pundits and coaches the steal of the 2024 draft after the Suns traded to get him from Denver. Dunn's averaging 9.4 points, shooting 51.4% overall and is the Suns' fourth-best 3-point shooter at 44% through their first five games, including his two starts. His best performance was 16 points including four treys, four rebounds, and a steal in the Suns' 125-119 win at the L.A. Clippers on Thursday.