John Little named head coach of Suns’ G League affiliate

The Suns hired John Little as the head coach of their G League affiliate, the Valley Suns announced on Thursday.

HoopsHype’s Michael Scotto first reported the news.

Little has familiarity with new Suns coach Mike Budenholzer after he spent all but the first year of Budenholzer’s Milwaukee Bucks tenure as an assistant for the Wisconsin Herd, the Bucks’ affiliate.

Among players he will also work with in the Valley are two-way players, Jalen Bridges and Collin Gillespie, who can each play a maximum of 50 NBA games and can otherwise get G League minutes. The Suns have one more two-way slot open.

Little will also coach players the Valley Suns selected in an expansion draft in June, such as Quinndary Weatherspoon, who has played well in Vegas for the Summer Suns.

Last season, Little was the associate head coach of the Maine Celtics, Boston’s G League affiliate. He helped lead the team to its first G-League Finals appearance last season.

With Maine, he gained further experience as a developer working with Jordan Walsh, a defensive-minded wing Boston had just drafted, similar to what Little might be able to work with in Suns first-round pick Ryan Dunn.

As a player, Little was a shooting guard with nearly a decade of overseas experience. He then was a video assistant at his alma mater, Northern Iowa, for two seasons before taking the Herd job.