Phoenix Suns’ front office decisions approaching, name to watch emerges

The Phoenix Suns are expected to announce front office decisions by early next week, and they could start coming down before the weekend, Arizona Sports’ John Gambadoro reported on Wednesday.

Their head coaching search would follow, as the organization needs to replace Mike Budenholzer following his dismissal.

I would expect the Suns front office changes to be announced in the next 48 hours or at the latest – early next week. At THAT time the coaching search will begin.

— John Gambadoro (@Gambo987) April 30, 2025

Smoke is starting to become visible as to Phoenix’s plans, as NBA insider Marc Stein reported vice president of player programming Brian Gregory is a name to watch.

“I’m told an emerging option in Phoenix, rather than a splashy hire outside hire, is promoting VP of player programming Brian Gregory to a more prominent front office role,” Stein posted. “Gregory already has a significant voice in Suns draft strategy and is highly regarded by owner Mat Ishbia.”

Gregory joined the Suns’ front office last offseason after working as head coach at South Florida from 2017-23. Notably, Gregory was an assistant coach with Michigan State under Tom Izzo from 1999-03, where he coached Ishbia as a player.

The Suns missed the play-in tournament with a 36-46 record this past season, which Ishbia called a failure that will lead to changes.

President of basketball operations and general manager James Jones’ contract reportedly expires in June, and his future is uncertain at this point.

“It wasn’t fun to watch our team lose and not compete at the level that we all expected,” Ishbia said during his end-of-season press conference. “As the owner, my job is to make those changes and do things differently. Because what we just tried and did over the last 2.5 years has not been as successful as we hoped.”

Related

Another recent rule change is hurting these new SunsReport: Suns GM James Jones leading search for new head coachSuns' Mat Ishbia can learn from Diamondbacks' Ken Kendrick when it comes to front officesNuggets trade Peyton Watson to Cavaliers in latest Western Conference offseason moveSuns, Mercury unveil plan for largest outdoor screen for NBA, WNBA arenaAdam Silver has an NBA owner problem