The Suns are hiring Cavaliers assistant Jordan Ott as their new head coach, ESPN’s Shams Charania reports. (Twitter link). Ott has been an NBA assistant since 2013.
Ott becomes the team’s fourth head coach in four seasons. Owner Mat Ishbia fired Monty Williams after the 2022/23 season, shortly after Ishbia took control of the franchise. NBA veteran head coaches Frank Vogel and Mike Budenholzer only lasted one season apiece before they were dismissed.
They’ll 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 season. He followed former Nets coach Kenny Atkinson to Cleveland after Atkinson got the top job there.
Another Cavs assistant, Johnnie Bryant, was the other finalist for the Suns job. Heat assistant Chris Quinn and Dallas assistant Sean Sweeney were also under consideration during the final round of interviews.
Ott will be taking over a franchise in a state of flux. Ishbia’s plans to win a championship by building a superteam 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 stamped Ott as his top choice as well, Charania tweets.
As for Bryant, he’s presumed to be a candidate for the Knicks opening. Bryant was an assistant under Tom Thibodeau with the Knicks until this season.