There were signs of Phoenix Suns players lacking trust in new head coach Igor Kokoskov early on. There was Deandre Ayton disagreeing with Kokoskov’s fairly obvious assessment that Ayton needed to be more aggressive. It’s pretty unusual for a rookie to show up his coach like that, and it’s rare for any basketball player to turn down more usage.
There was the blown assignment that left Marcus Morris wide open for a game tying 3 at the end of regulation in a game where the Suns had blown a 20 point halftime lead. The Suns went on to lose in overtime, and after that game, Kokoskov and the team were clearly on different pages in regards to how switches at the three point line were supposed to be handled.