The Suns are hiring Cavaliers assistant Jordan Ott as their new head coach, ESPN’s Shams Charania reports. Ott has been an NBA assistant since 2013.
Ott becomes the team’s fourth head coach in four seasons. Suns owner Mat Ishbia fired Monty Williams after the 2022/23 season, shortly after taking control of the franchise. NBA veteran head coaches Frank Vogel and Mike Budenholzer only lasted one season apiece before they were dismissed.
Phoenix will now turn to a veteran assistant receiving his first crack as a head coach.
Ott emerged from a group of at least 15 candidates, according to Charania. He has agreed to a four-year contract, 98.7 FM Phoenix talk show host John Gambadoro tweets.
Ott has long-time ties to Ishbia, Jeff Goodman notes (Twitter link). Ott is a former Tom Izzo staffer at Michigan State, where Ishbia played as a walk-on.
He began his NBA coaching career as a video coordinator with the Hawks. He served as a Nets assistant from 2016-22, then moved on to the Lakers until this past season. He followed former Nets coach Kenny Atkinson to Cleveland after Atkinson got the top job with the Cavs.
Another Cavs assistant, Johnnie Bryant, was the other finalist for the Suns job. Heat assistant Chris Quinn and Dallas assistant Sean Sweeney were also confirmed to be under consideration during the final round of interviews, with Thunder assistant Dave Bliss and Suns assistant David Fizdale reported to be in the mix too.
Ott will be taking over a franchise in a state of flux. Ishbia’s plans to win a championship by building a super-team around Kevin Durant, Bradley Beal and Devin Booker failed miserably, with the Suns not even qualifying for the postseason in Budenholzer’s only season at the helm.
The Suns are expected to pursue trades involving Durant and Beal, though Beal would have to waive his no-trade clause. Booker was heavily involved in the search process during the final stages and gave Ott a stamp of approval as his top choice as well, Charania tweets.
As for Bryant, he’s rumored to be a candidate for the Knicks’ opening. Bryant was an assistant under Tom Thibodeau with the Knicks until this season.