The Suns have fired head coach Frank Vogel, the team announced in a press release (Twitter link via Sam Amick of The Athletic).
“After a thoughtful review of the season, we concluded that we needed a different head coach for our team,” said president of basketball operations and general manager James Jones. “We appreciate Frank’s hard work and commitment. We are here to win a championship and last season was way below our expectations.”
The news was first broken by ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, who says (via Twitter) former Bucks head coach Mike Budenholzer will be a “prominent part” of Phoenix’s new coaching search.
The Suns dismissed Vogel, who won a championship as head coach of the Lakers in 2020, after just 11 months on the job. When he was hired last June, he reportedly received a five-year, $31MM contract.
It was an up-and-down 2023/24 season for Vogel and the Suns, who entered the campaign with championship aspirations but were swept in their first-round playoff series by the Timberwolves. Minnesota currently leads its second-round series with the defending-champion Nuggets 2-0 after winning a pair of games in Denver.
Phoenix went 49-33 during the regular season, claiming the West’s No. 6 seed entering the playoffs. Injuries, holes on the roster, and positional/skill overlap were issues throughout ’23/24.
The Suns’ gig was Vogel’s fourth NBA head coaching job. He coached the Pacers for five-and-a-half seasons from 2011-16, moved to Orlando from 2016-18, and was the Lakers’ leader for three years from 2019-22. He was an assistant with Boston, Philadelphia and Indiana before the Pacers promoted him mid-season in 2011.
Phoenix will be looking for another head coach for the second straight offseason, as the team dismissed former Coach of the Year Monty Williams, who led the team to an NBA Finals appearance in 2021, last year.
Owner Mat Ishbia has made several eyebrow-raising moves since he took majority control in 2023, pushing for a blockbuster trade for Kevin Durant and then adding another maximum-salary player in Bradley Beal last offseason. Ishbia and Jones projected optimism at a press conference following the team’s playoff ouster, yet ultimately made another major change by firing Vogel.
While Jones’ job is safe, Phoenix will be making other front office changes, according to John Gambadoro of Arizona Sports 98.7, who reports (All Twitter links) that the coaching search will likely only feature two or three names, with former NBA sharpshooter J.J. Redick not among the candidates. Budenholzer is the current frontrunner, Gambadoro confirms, adding that a decision should be made by next week.
Phoenix had the league’s third-highest payroll in ’23/24, and that figure is projected to continue to grow in ’24/25. Whomever is hired will obviously face intense pressure to produce immediate results next season.
As our tracker shows, the Nets and Hornets have concluded their coaching searches in 2024, while the Suns join the Lakers and Wizards as teams with ongoing searches.
Ishbia’s game of musical chairs
U give Vogel a 5 yr 31M deal and let him go after one season? It’s not like teams were begging him to be their coach! Whoever gave him that deal should be out the door!
Just like the Lakers situation (Darvin Ham), Vogel is not the reason this team failed the way they did. The one who helped make this decision is the reason why
I used to think that about Ham. Maybe it wasn’t all his fault, but they blew too many leads and he made questionable decisions. That’s on him. I think Vogel should have gotten another year though. 1 year want enough with that group.
Had to be done, he didn’t command the locker room.
Fall guy. Beale trade was one of the dumbest in memory.
People say that a lot but exactly what about it was so dumb?
1. Beal plays the same position as Devin Booker.
2. Beal has the worst contract in the NBA in part because…
3. Beal has a No-Trade Clause
Yes, yes, yes.
4. Availability.
5. Book playing point. Beal been a passenger for years now.
6. Domino effect, KD or Book gotta go if Beal digs his heels in.
Agree on all 6 points. The Beal trade has been disastrous, not only bc of the financial implications, but also bc the guy hasn’t been an elite player the last few years, and WAS was dumb enough to give him that contract. Now you’re stuck with an ineffective player with a huge contract who also plays the same position as your franchise player, and a lack of good rotation players. Kudos to James Jones for the KD trade, but the Beal trade was trying to do too much, and now you’re kinda stuck.
The Suns aren’t “kinda” stuck.
They are totally, completely, utterly stuck.
Fair points, I just feel like people are saying it because it the popular opinion not because they actually analyze it. On paper the suns gave up Chris Paul who they were going to cut and 2nd round picks. So to get a good player out of a player they didn’t want anymore and picks nobody cares about doesn’t seem like as horrible of a trade as everyone is saying it is.
Your can’t really diminish CP3’s value like that when GSW came along and gave up Jordan Poole, who at the time was a young stud, for him.
I’m sure the Suns would rather have Poole than Beal. His contract is worth less, doesn’t have a no trade clause and there’s still potential in him
Exactly. I probably reply with this too much, but it’s a result of the new second apron. Right now the Suns cannot sign any free agent above the minimum, and cannot trade for a player who makes more than the one going out (and they can only send out one player in a trade). If they kept CP3 they wouldn’t be able to sign anyone above the minimum when his contract was up/cut. They traded for the best available player who’s under contract for longer, never mind that he’s overpaid.
This bed was made with the KD trade, not Beal. I don’t care about Beal’s contract—I’m all for redistributing billionaire’s wealth to millionaires.
And you’re ignoring his massive contract because…? Getting a good player in a vacuum is meaningless. Teams win by getting good players at good value. And Beal, on top of being massively overpaid based on his on-court performance, is redundant, injury prone, has a full no-trade clause, and locks the Suns into the 2nd apron for a long time. The fact that the Suns gave up little for him is not an accident. It’s because he had negative value and nobody wanted him.
@DarkGhost: “On paper the suns gave up Chris Paul who they were going to cut and 2nd round picks. So to get a good player out of a player they didn’t want anymore and picks nobody cares about doesn’t seem like as horrible of a trade as everyone is saying it is.”
Because of the salary cap structure in the NBA, in determining a player’s pure value, you need to consider their contract. Beal is still a good player, but he’s not worth $50 million per season for the next three years. His contract undercuts his value because it prevents you from improving the team in other areas.
Also, you’re a bit off on the package they gave up for Beal. It was a little more than Paul and 2nd round picks. Here’s the full trade from the Suns perspective:
Get:
Beal
Goodwin
Todd
Give up:
Paul
Shamet
$3.5 million
2024 1st round draft pick swap rights
2024 2nd round draft pick
2025 2nd round draft pick
2026 1st round draft pick swap rights
2026 2nd round draft pick
2027 2nd round draft pick
2028 1st round draft pick swap rights
2030 1st round draft pick swap rights
2030 2nd round draft pick
So five 2nd rounders and four 1st round pick swaps over the next seven years. So if the Suns end up cratering, they won’t necessarily even have good 1st rounders if the Wizards exercise their swaps. All that for a grossly overpaid, but good, player.
Beal is basically “What if Tyler Herro made 50 million per season instead of 30”.
Even without the NTC his contract is atrocious and nigh-impossible to move for any semblance of positive value.
Beale always misses 1/3rd of the season.
Pretty stupid move obviously, but when you can’t do anything to the roster, what else can you do? Hail mary it with a new coach
Exactly . Vogel wasn’t a fantastic choice as head coach but he certainly wasn’t the worst . This team wasn’t healthy and they didn’t gel well. Vogel is only responsible for so much . Fall guy
Finally, a shallow bench aside, Vogel had little structure in both offense and defense.
Vogel’s your turn/my turn offense was an eye sore all season kung.
Bud will right this ship.
Why lie? This decision wasn’t the result of a thoughtful (or un-thoughtful) review of the season. It was done on the basis of the playoff result, which occurred a while ago. They just waited to announce it.
That’s it!! Vogel needed to suit up and show them how to win on the floor himself.
Mayne they should bring in more 2 guards and play all of them together…
Imagine if the Heat fired Spoelstra on a whim… or the Spurs canned Pop in 1997…. teams that do this will always do this… this is who they are
If LeBron got his was spo would of been gone.
The book “The Soul of Basketball” apparently discussed this topic, with Pat Riley reportedly having told the writer LeBron wanted Spoelstra out.
Yes, LeBron asked Riley if he would be tempted to coach again himself. Riley said “No” and stood by Spo. But Riley also said in the book that he knew exactly what LeBron meant with that question.
I knew Frank Vogel was a bad hire the moment he got hired because he teaches defense. Devin Booker Kevin Durant and Bradley Beal are all scorers and average defensive players at the very best. Going to get Mike Budenholzer will be a better fit for this team but honestly this team and organization is a total mess!!!
Glad Steph is not a coach killer like KD and Lebron.
You can’t use Lebron in the same sentence as Durant. Every team he’s played for has won a championship, every team that Durant has been on, except for Steph’s imploded
I can when it applies and those two by far get more coaches fired than anyone else.
Afraid this one goes to hopper15, tuck 2. The player whose career path most closely resembles LeBron’s is KD. And it’s not just a random coincidence this came to be so. For whatever reason, both players – despite their immense respective talents – are not true “team leaders”. You can argue against it all you want, and, once you come to realization, we can speculate why this is the case until the end of time. On the surface, it’s not necessarily a major criticism nor should it immediately be viewed as a major flaw of LeBron and KD that they are not true team leaders. Some athletes welcome the responsibility; others do not. It’s only when we begin to compare and try to rank NBA players of different generations that this quality comes into question. The league is flush with plenty of all-time greats who were considered by many to be the undisputed team leader and who built their career resumes with a select few teams and coaches played for. If you really think about it……is it possible that LeBron has played for more coaches in his 21+ seasons than, say, Jordan, Kobe, Bird, Magic, Russell, Kareem, and Duncan’s coaches COMBINED???
Maybe it’s not fair to sample from Kareem and Magic since they had the same coach for the better part of a decade. So if you were to do this research, Kareem should be the one to be replaced by perhaps…..Hakeem…..or Steph? Isaiah maybe (that’s a stretch, probably)?
Coaches are there to be fired, players win or lose… coaches don’t much matter, they can make you lose if they are bad… but they can’t ever make a team win!
All ‘bout the players!
Durant sure has left a trail of bodies during his careeer
The Suns are a mess and this season’s roster was more about subtraction by addition. With the hindsight of a full season, do Suns fans think Nurkic and Allen are better options than Ayton and Camara? And what is going to be the plan once Durant decides to call it a career? While Frank Vogel is guilty of some rather questionable coaching decisions, this current roster works together about as well as chum in a bucket.
It’s doubtful that a reunion of Vogel with the Lakers is in the offing, as LeBron had him run off once. And if the Blazers fire Billips, it’s doubtful Vogel would have the appetite to take on a rebuilding roster. Which leaves the Wizards. Or does Vogel simply take his contract payout from the Suns and sit things out until a couple of more attractive openings emerge next season?
Scapegoat for bad roster construction.
I’ll sit at home for the next 4 years and rake in 6mil a year.
Don’t do it, Bud! Unless Mat Ishbia offers you $80M for four years, guaranteed. In which case, take the job, get canned on schedule after the Suns flame out again next year, and you won’t have to work again. (Bud probably doesn’t have to, now, as it is.)
How you get fired on your day off?
As a Michigan State fan (Ishbia was part of the 2000 National Championship team) this is very stupid. OMG.. we were swept in the first round by Minnesota of all teams. Minnesota is a decent team this year. KD is getting old and Beal has been hurt. I understand that expectations are high having those two but what has Beal done in Washington? Nothing. What has KD done without Steph Curry and the Warriors? Nothing! The Suns had a better team without KD. He’ll be in the HOF someday but not because of the Suns. Ishbia is a rich kid who took over his dad’s company United Wholesale Mortgage out of Pontiac Michigan. I can’t wait for Monty to do something with the Pistons and laugh at Mat’s face 30 miles up the road. Or Frank doing something with his next team.
The Suns went from one bad owner to another…
Ishbia will have to bring Mike D`Antoni out of retirement to save this team and God forbid that Devin Booker don’t ask for a trade because that will be the end of this team.
Hire Bud as HC, with Griffen, Scotts and Darvin Ham as assistants. That’ll fix it.
Pacers should bring him back and get rid of snot nose rubbing Rick Carlise. The Pacers made a huge mistake with Tyrese Haliburton giving him Patrick Mahomes type money. He was mid before he came to the Pacers, became great, got his max contract and became mid again. Rick clearly makes the decisions around the front office, so they should make Frank Vogel an offer he can’t refuse. Like Monty Williams type money. And make it stick. Try to focus on the obvious. Not bad rotations. Give him the keys to the castle. Get rid of the bad decision makers of the front office. Pascal Siakam was a great move, they would have done it either way. But saying Jarace Walker is not NBA ready, when every NBA rookie from the 2004 draft played over 35 minutes a game as a rookie. I think any rookie would struggle if they got to play once every 10 games, and are told they can’t do crap. That’s the problem with the NBA today. Also can’t have trouble makers not adjusting to the NBA play playcalling. You will make no friends doing that. Which leaves the Pacers with no chance. Especially since Rick called them out. The guy is in a constant haze, and doesn’t know what’s going on besides saying a guy’s great all the time. That’s all he’s got, and his crappy rotations. Jalen Smith no playing time. No defense. Just awful. The 2008 Portland guys still run the front office for the Pacers.
Correction* the President of the Pacers is former trailblazers gm from 2007- mid 2010. A self professed crypto guy. Also the 2011 trailblazers GM Chad Buchanan.
You not winning no championship with Kevin Durant if he don’t join a 73-9 team that beat him in the Western Conference Finals.
Better to trade Beal for Schroder and Cam Johnson or Beal for Vanvleet.