Reports: Suns to hire former NBA wing James Posey as assistant coach
Jul 25, 2024, 1:24 PM
James Posey #41 of the New Orleans Hornets drives the ball against the San Antoino Spurs at New Orleans Arena on January 18, 2010 in New Orleans, Louisiana. (Photo by Chris Graythen/Getty Images)
(Photo by Chris Graythen/Getty Images)
The Phoenix Suns have agreed to hire James Posey as the latest assistant coach to join Mike Budenholzer’s staff, ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski confirmed Thursday.
AZCentral’s Duane Rankin first reported Phoenix’s push to add the 12-year NBA player.
Posey followed up his playing career by getting into coaching.
He began in 2013 as an assistant coach in the G League before joining the bench for the Cleveland Cavaliers from 2014-19. Posey’s next stop was with the women’s basketball team at Virginia as an assistant for the 2021-22 season. He then spent the last two seasons as an assistant coach for the Washington Wizards.
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Posey played for seven different teams across 12 years, most notably as a key depth piece on the 2008 champion Boston Celtics squad. He immediately started for the Denver Nuggets after getting selected 18th overall in the 1999 NBA Draft but was unable to make a name for himself on poor Denver teams before getting traded in December 2002 to the Houston Rockets.
Signing with the Memphis Grizzlies in 2003 is when Posey started to get some notoriety on two teams that made back-to-back playoff berths. He then bounced around as a respected veteran from Miami to Boston to New Orleans before ending his career in Indiana.
Posey’s playing career actually includes a Suns link. Their dealing of Elliot “Socks” Perry in September 1996 to the Milwaukee Bucks included acquiring a future first-round pick, which ended up in Denver’s possession later after the Suns traded three future firsts in the October 1997 Antonio McDyess trade.
Posey became that draft pick.
Phoenix’s coaching staff under Budenholzer is just about complete. Chaisson Allen, Brent Barry, Chad Forcier, Mike Hopkins, Vince Legarza and Posey are new names and joining David Fizdale, who is the lone holdover from last year’s staff under Frank Vogel.
