PHOENIX (AZFamily/AP) — The Phoenix Suns have a new head coach, opting for a young, emerging leader to rebuild a franchise that has regressed over the past few seasons.
NBA sources confirmed to Arizona’s Family that the Suns will hire Cleveland Cavaliers assistant Jordan Ott as their new coach.
Ott has been an assistant coach in the NBA since 2012. ESPN Senior NBA Insider Shams Charania said Ott’s background is offensive and defensive creativity, player development and communication.
Phoenix fired head coach Mike Budenholzer in April after a disappointing season. Budenholzer spent just one season at the helm of the Suns, where the team went 36-46 and missed the playoffs despite the high-priced trio of Devin Booker, Kevin Durant and Bradley Beal. In May, the team introduced new general manager Brian Gregory, who will take over for James Jones amid an offseason full of changes.
Ott will be the 23rd head coach in Suns’ franchise history, and the fourth head coach in four years. Along with his recent stint with the Cavaliers, Ott previously served on staff of the Atlanta Hawks, Brooklyn Nets and Los Angeles Lakers. But the job with the Suns will be his first time as a head coach.
Ott is a graduate of Michigan State University—an experience that he shares with Suns owner Mat Ishbia. He also worked as a video coordinator under Tom Izzo at Michigan State. Ishbia played as a walk-on from 1999 to 2003.
The Cleveland Cavaliers went 64-18 in the 2024-25 season with Ott as an assistant, leading them to the No. 1 seed in the East for the 2025 playoffs.
It remains to be seen if Durant or Beal will be on next season’s roster — both could be moved in trades. Booker seems like the only player on the roster who is truly untouchable after 10 seasons in the desert, including four All-Star appearances.
Ott and fellow Cavs assistant Johnnie Bryant were the two finalists for the job. Both worked under Kenny Atkinson, helping lead Cleveland to a 64-18 record this season, which was the best record in the NBA’s Eastern Conference.
Ishbia and Gregory led a lengthy, deliberate search that lasted 1 1/2 months and included more than a dozen candidates. Gregory also has Michigan State ties as a former assistant coach.
Ott takes over a franchise that’s had a quick rise and fall over the past five years.
The Suns made the NBA Finals in 2021 with a core that included Booker, Deandre Ayton, Mikal Bridges, Chris Paul, Cameron Johnson and coach Monty Williams, but lost to the Milwaukee Bucks in six games. Phoenix had the best record in the NBA the next season before losing to the Dallas Mavericks in the second round.
Ishbia blew up that nucleus shortly after purchasing the team in 2023, trading for a superstar in Durant, but the Suns lost again in the postseason’s second round, this time to the eventual champion Denver Nuggets. Williams was fired following the season, which started the franchise’s sideline shuffle.
The Suns traded for Beal — a three-time All-Star — and hired coach Frank Vogel during the ensuing offseason, but the group never seemed to gel. Phoenix was swept by the Minnesota Timberwolves in the opening round of the playoffs in 2024, leading to Vogel’s firing.
Budenholzer replaced Vogel before last season, but the Suns didn’t even make it to the play-in tournament in 2025. Ott worked under Budenholzer as the Hawks’ video coordinator from 2013 to 2016.
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