Phoenix Suns hosting HC candidates for interviews this week
May 25, 2023, 2:02 PM | Updated: 2:21 pm
Associate coach Jordi Fernandez of the Sacramento Kings talks with Kevin Huerter #9 during the first half of the preseason NBA game at Footprint Center on October 12, 2022 in Phoenix, Arizona. (Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images)
(Photo by Christian Petersen/Getty Images)
The Phoenix Suns are interviewing candidates for their head-coaching job in Phoenix this week and that could be the last step before picking a name, according to Arizona Sports’ John Gambadoro.
Sacramento Kings associate head coach Jordi Fernandez and Toronto Raptors head coach Nick Nurse are speaking with the team on Thursday while former Philadelphia 76ers head coach Doc Rivers and former Los Angeles Lakers head coach Frank Vogel have time on Friday. Fernandez had dinner with the Suns on Wednesday night, per Gambadoro.
Suns associate head coach Kevin Young is also under consideration. Gambadoro believes Young has had an interview already and could get another this weekend, which would be the last one conducted by the Suns’ lead decision-makers.
Fernandez spent the last six years as an assistant with the Denver Nuggets (2016-22) before joining the Kings prior to this year. Sacramento went on to win 48 games and head coach Mike Brown won NBA Coach of the Year.
Nurse is also in the mix for the head-coaching jobs in Milwaukee and Philadelphia, per ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski. Nurse won a championship with Toronto in 2019.
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Rivers’ fourth head coaching gig in the league came for three seasons with the Philadelphia 76ers. They were eliminated in the second round of this postseason and Rivers was dismissed. He won a title leading the Boston Celtics in 2008.
Vogel has been out of coaching since the Lakers axed him at the end of last season, two years after his first season with the Lakers resulted in a championship. He spent six seasons as head coach of the Indiana Pacers from 2010-16 before two years in Orlando coaching the Magic.
Young got his start in the NBA as an assistant coach for the 76ers from 2017-20 before he came to Phoenix to work under Monty Williams the following year.
All of the names in the mix are vying for the chance to replace Monty Williams, who was fired two days after Phoenix’s Game 6 loss to the Denver Nuggets eliminated the title contenders in the second round for the second year in a row. Williams’ record across four seasons was 194-115.
