Heat Sign Ethan Thompson To Exhibit 10 Contract
The Heat have signed free agent guard Ethan Thompson to an Exhibit 10 contract, according to Ira Winderman of The Sun Sentinel (subscription required).
While Thompson has yet to appear in an NBA regular season game, he has now signed five NBA contracts since going undrafted out of Oregon State in 2021 and spent the last two-plus months of the 2024/25 season on a two-way deal with the Magic.
A G League veteran, the 6’5″ shooting guard has played in between 43 and 49 NBAGL games in each of the past four seasons, spending time with the Windy City Bulls, Mexico City Capitanes, and Osceola Magic. In 47 outings for Orlando’s G League team last season, he averaged 17.8 points, 4.7 rebounds, 3.0 assists, and 1.1 steals in 33.4 minutes per game, posting a shooting line of .415/.396/.805. He knocked down a career-high 3.3 three-pointers per contest.
An Exhibit 10 contract can be converted to a two-way deal before the regular season begins, and Miami does have an open two-way slot. However, it appears likely that the Heat are signing Thompson with an eye toward having him join their G League affiliate as a returning rights player — the Sioux Falls Skyforce made a trade with Osceola on Wednesday to acquire Thompson’s rights (Twitter link).
If Thompson is waived before the regular season begins and then spends at least 60 days with the Skyforce, he’d earn an Exhibit 10 bonus worth up to $85,300 on top of his standard NBAGL salary.
The Heat now have 17 players officially under contract, including 14 on fully or partially guaranteed standard deals, one on an Exhibit 10, and a pair on two-ways. They also still have a qualifying offer on the table for restricted free agent Dru Smith.
Pelicans’ Missi, Rockets’ Okogie Playing In AfroBasket
While it lacks the star power of the upcoming EuroBasket tournament, FIBA’s 2025 AfroBasket event, which tipped off on Tuesday, features a pair of NBA players. Second-year Pelicans center Yves Missi is suiting up for Cameroon, while veteran Rockets wing Josh Okogie is representing Nigeria.
Both players got off to strong starts on Wednesday in their teams’ first AfroBasket games. Missi contributed 12 points, four rebounds, and three assists in 24 minutes to help lead Cameroon to an 86-65 win over Tunisia, while Okogie had five points, five assists, four rebounds, and a +12 on/off mark in 27 minutes of action during Nigeria’s 77-59 victory over Madagascar.
Jonathan Kuminga was listed on the preliminary roster for the Democratic Republic of Congo, but isn’t suiting up for the team as his restricted free agent standoff with the Warriors extends well into the offseason.
Still, there are several other former NBA players taking part in the tournament, as the full list of rosters shows.
Bruno Fernando (Angola), Edy Tavares (Cape Verde), Matt Costello (Côte d’Ivoire), Christian Eyenga (Democratic Republic of Congo), Mamadi Diakite (Guinea), Ibou Badji (Senegal), Karim Mané (Senegal), and Wenyen Gabriel (South Sudan) are among the names that may be familiar to NBA fans, with Tavares (14 points, 19 rebounds) and Costello (12 points, 11 rebounds, six assists) submitting big performances en route to victories in their first group play games.
A handful of notable former NBA players are also on the sidelines as coaches for the event, including Luol Deng for South Sudan, DeSagana Diop for Senegal, and Sam Vincent for Libya, observes Marc Stein of The Stein Line (Substack link).
AfroBasket’s field is made up of 16 national teams divided into four groups of four teams apiece. Each squad faces the other clubs in its group once during the preliminary round; the top-ranked team in each group after those three games advances directly to the quarterfinals, while the eight second- and third-place teams square off in “play-in” games to earn quarterfinal berths.
Group play will continue through Sunday, with the play-in games for the knockout round held next Monday and Tuesday. The quarterfinals will take place on August 20 and 21, with the semifinals played on Aug. 23 and the final (and third-place game) on Aug. 24.
NBA 2025 Offseason Check-In: Atlanta Hawks
Hoops Rumors is checking in on the 2025 offseason for all 30 NBA teams, recapping the summer’s free agent signings, trades, draft picks, departures, and more. We’ll take a look at each team’s offseason moves and consider what might still be coming before the regular season begins. Today, we’re focusing on the Atlanta Hawks.
Free agent signings
Nickeil Alexander-Walker: Four years, $60,647,200. Fourth-year player option. Trade kicker (7.5%). Signed using Bird rights and acquired via sign-and-trade from Timberwolves.- Luke Kennard: One year, $11,000,000. Signed using non-taxpayer mid-level exception.
Trades
- Acquired the draft rights to Asa Newell (No. 23 pick) and either the Pelicans’ or Bucks’ 2026 first-round pick (whichever is more favorable) from the Pelicans in exchange for the draft rights to Derik Queen (No. 13 pick).
- Acquired David Roddy (two-way; from Rockets), the right to swap their own 2031 second-round pick for the Rockets’ 2031 second-round pick (56-60 protected; from Rockets), and cash ($85,300; from Rockets) in a seven-team trade in exchange for Clint Capela (sign-and-trade; to Rockets) and Daeqwon Plowden (two-way; to Suns).
- Note: Roddy was subsequently waived.
- Acquired Nickeil Alexander-Walker (sign-and-trade) from the Timberwolves in exchange for the Cavaliers’ 2027 second-round pick and cash ($1.5MM).
- Acquired Kristaps Porzingis (from Celtics) and a 2026 second-round pick (from Celtics) in a three-team trade in exchange for Terance Mann (to Nets), Georges Niang (to Celtics), the draft rights to Drake Powell (No. 22 pick; to Nets), and the Cavaliers’ 2031 second-round pick (to Celtics).
Draft picks
- 1-23: Asa Newell
- Signed to rookie scale contract (four years, $16,240,653).
Two-way signings
- Eli Ndiaye
- One year, $85,300 partial guarantee (will increase to $318,218 at start of regular season).
- Jacob Toppin
- One year, $85,300 partial guarantee.
- Keaton Wallace
- One year, $85,300 partial guarantee (will increase to $318,218 at start of regular season).
Departed/unsigned free agents
- Clint Capela (Rockets)
- Caris LeVert (Pistons)
- Garrison Mathews (unsigned)
- Larry Nance Jr. (Cavaliers)
Other roster moves
- Signed 2024 second-round pick Nikola Djurisic to a three-year, $5,949,688 contract. Second year non-guaranteed. Third-year team option. Signed using second round pick exception.
Salary cap situation
- Operating over the cap ($154.6MM) and below the luxury tax line ($187.9MM).
- Carrying approximately $182.3MM in salary.
- Hard-capped at $195,945,000.
- Portion of non-taxpayer mid-level exception ($3,104,000) available.
- Full bi-annual exception ($5,134,000) available.
- Three traded player exceptions available (largest worth $13,101,561).
The offseason so far
After the Hawks lost Jalen Johnson to a season-ending shoulder injury in January and traded away veteran role players like De’Andre Hunter and Bogdan Bogdanovic a couple weeks later, it looked like they might be ready to throw in the towel on the 2024/25 season. But led by Trae Young, new starting center Onyeka Okongwu, Defensive Player of the Year runner-up Dyson Daniels, and rapidly improving No. 1 overall pick Zaccharie Risacher, Atlanta went 17-14 after the trade deadline, earning a play-in berth.
The Hawks failed to clinch a playoff spot in the play-in tournament, but given what their young core showed in the second half, it came as no surprise that the front office – headed by newly promoted general manager Onsi Saleh, who replaced Landry Fields – took an aggressive approach to upgrading its roster this offseason.
The Hawks entered the summer with the 13th and 22nd overall picks in the draft, but ultimately used neither of them, trading the No. 22 pick to Brooklyn as part of a three-team trade for Kristaps Porzingis and moving down from No. 13 to No. 23 to select Asa Newell while acquiring an unprotected 2026 first-rounder in the process.
The Porzingis trade will have the greater on-court impact for Atlanta in 2025/26, with the former Celtics forward/center set to complement Okongwu in the frontcourt and help make up for the departures of big men Clint Capela and Larry Nance Jr. But the Hawks’ new-look front office might’ve received more kudos for its other draft-pick deal, which saw the team move down 10 spots this year and net the more favorable of the Bucks’ and Pelicans’ 2026 first-round picks.
While that 2026 first-rounder doesn’t look quite as tantalizing now as it did back in June when a Giannis Antetokounmpo trade seemed more viable, it could still end up being an extremely valuable asset, given that the Pelicans are coming off a 21-win season and have several key players still recovering from major injuries. The 2024 offseason trade between the two teams that centered around Daniels and Dejounte Murray has turned into a big win for the Hawks, who now have a chance to reap the rewards of a deal with New Orleans for a second consecutive year.
Porzingis should be an upgrade on Capela and Nance up front as long as he’s healthy, but the Hawks had a handful of other holes to fill this offseason, as they lost three key reserves. Terance Mann and Georges Niang were sent out in the Porzingis deal, while Caris LeVert signed with Detroit as a free agent.
With plenty of spending flexibility below the luxury tax line to operate, the Hawks addressed those holes by adding a pair of veterans for mid-level type deals. Veteran sharpshooter Luke Kennard was signed to a one-year, $11MM contract using Atlanta’s actual mid-level exception, while three-and-D guard Nickeil Alexander-Walker was acquired via sign-and-trade using a trade exception created as a result of last year’s Murray deal.
All of the newcomers look like great fits. Despite Daniels’ excellence, the Hawks ranked just 18th last season in defensive rating, so adding a rim protector like Porzingis and another talented point-of-attack weapon like Alexander-Walker should put the club in position to improve that ranking in 2025/26.
Atlanta was also in the middle of the pack in terms of three-point attempts (15th) and three-point percentage (18th), making it a logical move to sign one of the NBA’s very best three-point shooters. Kennard hasn’t made fewer than 43.3% of his outside attempts in any of the past five seasons and should get his fair share of open looks with Young, the NBA’s reigning assist leader, setting him up.
The Hawks’ level of success in 2025/26 will ultimately come down to what they get from Young and their growing young core, including Risacher, Daniels, Okongwu, and a healthy Johnson. But they did well this summer to get role players who should nicely complement those long-term building blocks.
Up next
The Hawks are technically only carrying 13 players on standard contracts at the moment and are operating about $5.5MM below the luxury tax line. That gives them enough room to bring in two more players on minimum-salary contracts to carry a full 15-man roster into the season without becoming a taxpayer.
Whether they go that route or leave their 15th spot open remains to be seen, but they’ll at least have to add a 14th man. It seems like former Magic wing Caleb Houstan will probably be that player, but the two sides have yet to officially finalize the one-year deal they reportedly agreed to on July 17.
Assuming that contract eventually gets signed and it’s fully (or at least mostly) guaranteed, count on Houstan opening the season on the roster. But if the agreement falls through or if Houstan gets a non-guaranteed deal, that 14th spot will be more wide open.
Reports in the wake of June’s draft indicated that undrafted rookie Lamont Butler would be signing a two-way contract with Atlanta, but the Hawks have since signed three different players to two-way deals. There’s still plenty of time between now and opening night for the club to make changes to its two-way slots, but it looks at this point that if Butler comes to camp, it would be on an Exhibit 10 contract rather than a two-way. We’ll have to wait for more clarity on that subject.
Besides filling out the back of their roster, the Hawks have some bigger-picture decisions to make regarding contract extensions for key players before the season begins. Daniels, for instance, is eligible for a rookie scale extension and would reach restricted free agency in 2026 if he doesn’t sign a new contract in 2025.
When Eric Pincus of Bleacher Report projected rookie scale extensions in May, he estimated a four-year, $94MM deal for Daniels. I think his next contract will probably come in higher than that, given how defensive aces like Jaden McDaniels (five years, $131MM) and Jalen Suggs (five years, $150MM) got paid on their extensions in 2023 and 2024, respectively. Still, the Hawks are probably taking notice of how RFA negotiations are playing out this summer and wondering if they can convince Daniels to accept something a little more team-friendly than those McDaniels and Suggs contracts this fall.
In addition to Daniels, Young and Porzingis are also eligible to sign contract extensions. Unlike Daniels, those two veterans will remain extension-eligible all season long if they don’t work out new deals before opening night.
Still, recent reporting has suggested there’s nothing doing between Young and the Hawks at the moment, and there have been no indications that the team is seriously exploring an extension with Porzingis either. I’ll be curious to see whether Atlanta is willing to go all the way into next offseason without extending either player or whether the team shows more urgency to get something done this fall or even during the season.
It’s worth noting that Porzingis’ maximum extension for now would be about $116MM over three years, whereas he could get up to $192.7MM over four years as of January 7, six months after the trade. But I don’t think the Hawks would go as high as the former number, let alone the latter, so that’s probably a moot point.
As for Young, his maximum-salary extension right now is worth about $222.4MM over four years. He could qualify for a five-year, $335MM contract if he makes an All-NBA team in 2025/26, but again, I’m not sure Atlanta is willing to go up to his current max, let alone to that higher number, so it might just further complicate their contract talks if Young earns super-max eligibility.
Tom Dundon Reaches Tentative Deal To Buy Trail Blazers
2:15 pm: In an updated version of their Sportico report, Soshnick and Novy-Williams says the Blazers’ sale will include two separate payments — one at the closing of the sale and one at a later date. The “blended” valuation of the two payments will be roughly $4.25 billion, sources tell Sportico.
11:18 am: The Blazers will be valued at more than $4 billion in the sale, reports Shams Charania of ESPN (Twitter link).
11:01 am: A group led by billionaire Tom Dundon, the owner of the NHL’s Carolina Hurricanes, has reached a tentative agreement to buy the Trail Blazers from Paul Allen‘s estate, sources tell Scott Soshnick and Eben Novy-Williams of Sportico.
Blue Owl Capital co-president Marc Zahr and co-CEO of Collective Global Sheel Tyle are among the other investors who are part of Dundon’s group, according to Soshnick and Novy-Williams, who say the buyers intend to keep the team in Portland.
The Trail Blazers announced their plans to sell the franchise back in May. Allen, the longtime Blazers owner who purchased the franchise for $70MM in 1988, passed away on October 15, 2018, resulting in control of the team being transferred to his sister Jody Allen, the trustee and executor of his estate.
The plan following Paul Allen’s death was for ownership of the Blazers to eventually change hands as part of an estate sale, which is the process that’s playing out now. The investment bank Allen & Co. (no relation) and the law firm Hogan Lovells were selected to lead the sale of the team.
As Soshnick and Novy-Williams note, while the valuation of the Blazers in this tentative deal isn’t yet known, a trust generally has a fiduciary duty in an estate sale to maximize the value of its assets and to sell to the highest qualified bidder.
When Sportico last updated its NBA franchise valuations in December 2024, the site estimated the Blazers’ worth to be $3.6 billion. New owners have agreed to buy the Celtics ($6.1 billion valuation) and Lakers ($10 billion valuation) since then.
All estate proceeds as a result of the Blazers sale will be directed toward philanthropy, per the late Allen’s wishes.
In addition to owning the NHL’s Hurricanes, Dundon has invested heavily in pickleball — he’s the majority owner of the PPA Tour and Major League Pickleball. Dundon, who is also the chairman and managing partner of the Dallas-based investment firm Dundon Capital Partners, will serve as the Blazers’ new governor if and when the sale is officially approved by the NBA, per Sportico’s report.
League Announces 2025 NBA Cup Schedule
After previously announcing the dates and groups for its third annual in-season tournament, the NBA today revealed the schedule for the group play portion of the event. The group play stage of the tournament, which is formally known as the Emirates NBA Cup, will begin on October 31 and run through November 28.
The group play games will take place on five consecutive Fridays, with a handful of games also played on Tuesday, Nov. 25 and Wednesday, Nov. 26. The NBA has published its schedule by date, as well as its schedule by team.
Each Friday will feature a doubleheader on Amazon Prime, while NBC/Peacock will nationally broadcast a doubleheader on Nov. 25 and ESPN will air a tripleheader on Nov. 26. The full schedule of nationally televised NBA Cup games, starting with Celtics at Sixers and Lakers at Grizzlies on Oct. 31, can be found right here (Twitter link).
The NBA Cup quarterfinals will take place on December 9 and 10, with the semifinals to follow on Dec. 13 and the final to be played on Dec. 16. The higher-seeded teams will host the quarterfinal matchups, while the semifinals and final will take place in Las Vegas. Amazon Prime will broadcast all seven games in the knockout round.
West Group C, which includes the Nuggets, Rockets, Warriors, and Spurs, will be the most heavily featured group in nationally televised broadcasts — five of the 15 NBA Cup games on the national broadcast schedule will be matchups from that group, including three apiece for Houston and Golden State.
The Bucks, the champions of last year’s second annual in-season tournament, will be featured on Amazon in a group play game on Nov. 28 vs. the Knicks.
In addition to announcing the NBA Cup schedule, the league also revealed today that Amazon Prime’s first Friday doubleheader of the season, on October 24, will feature a pair of playoff matchups from this past spring (Twitter link). The Celtics will visit the Knicks at 7:30 pm Eastern time, with the Lakers hosting the Timberwolves at 10:00 pm ET.
[RELATED: NBA Reveals Opening Week, Christmas Day, MLK Day Matchups]
The full NBA regular season schedule for 2025/26 will be announced on Thursday.
Suns Hiring Steve Clifford As Coaching Advisor
The Suns put out a press release on Tuesday formally announcing their team of assistants under first-year head coach Jordan Ott, but the club is making one more notable addition to its staff that wasn’t included in that announcement, according to Michael Scotto of HoopsHype (Twitter link).
Phoenix is hiring former NBA head coach Steve Clifford as a coaching advisor, sources tell Scotto.
Clifford, who will turn 64 next month, had multiple stints as the Hornets’ head coach from 2013-18 and 2022-24. He also coached the Magic from 2018-21. Overall, he compiled a regular season record of 340-461 (.424) in Charlotte and Orlando, earning four playoff appearances across 10 seasons.
Clifford also has no shortage of experience as an NBA assistant, including stints with the Knicks, Rockets, Magic, and Lakers from 2001-13. Prior to his first NBA job, he worked as a college assistant and head coach for about a decade-and-a-half.
When the Suns were in the process of filling out Ott’s staff, reporting indicated that the team was seeking a lead assistant with previous head coaching experience. Phoenix didn’t end up finding anyone who fit that bill, with Jesse Mermuys, DeMarre Carroll, and Brian Randle expected to occupy the top three front-of-bench spots under Ott.
By bringing aboard Clifford in an advisory role, the Suns are providing Ott with a more experienced confidant who can help him navigate his first year as a head coach.
Wyc Grousbeck Won’t Continue To Be Celtics’ Governor
3:08 pm: Chisholm and Grousbeck still intend to run the Celtics together for the next few years, according to Shelburne, who reports (via Twitter) that Grousbeck is giving up his governor title because he’ll control less than the 15% minimum stake required for the person who holds that position.
10:50 am: When the Grousbeck family agreed to sell the Celtics to William Chisholm, the stated plan was for Wyc Grousbeck to remain in his role as the team’s governor through the 2027/28 season. The expectation was that Grousbeck would give up his position when Chisholm’s group – which is initially buying a 51% stake – purchased the rest of the shares in the franchise in 2028.
However, Grousbeck will no longer retain the governor title following the first stage of the ownership transfer, sources tell ESPN’s Shams Charania and Ramona Shelburne. According to Charania and Shelburne, Chisholm will immediately become the Celtics’ new governor once his purchase of the team is approved, which is expected to happen very soon.
ESPN’s report doesn’t specify the reason for the change of plans, but it was an unorthodox approach to have Chisholm acquiring majority control of the team while keeping the team’s former majority owner in the top organizational role.
Grousbeck will continue to operate as the Celtics’ CEO and will also serve as an alternate governor once the sale is complete, per Charania and Shelburne.
This isn’t the first time in recent years that a plan to have an NBA owner remain in a prominent position in the organization after he sells the team has fallen through — Mark Cuban was reportedly expected to remain the Mavericks’ top basketball decision-maker after he sold controlling interest in his franchise to the Aldersons and Patrick Dumont, but that didn’t end up happening.
The Lakers announced a similar arrangement when Mark Walter reached an agreement to buy control of the team from the Buss family. The expectation is that Jeanie Buss will stay in her role as governor in Los Angeles for several seasons after Walter assumes control of the franchise.
Given what happened with Cuban and now Grousbeck, we’ll see if that comes to fruition, but it’s worth noting that Walter has been a minority owner in the Lakers for several years and had a preexisting relationship with the Buss family when he agreed to purchase the club, whereas the buyers and sellers in Dallas and Boston hadn’t previously worked together.
Grousbeck will step down as Boston’s governor after holding the position for over two decades. The Grousbeck family bought the Celtics in 2002 and has since helped guide the organization to a pair of championships (in 2008 and 2024). They bought the team for $360MM and sold it at a valuation of $6.1 billion.
Heat Notes: Jones, Jakucionis, Burks, Powell, Preseason
Kai Jones‘ workout with the Heat on Monday wasn’t just a one-day affair. According to Barry Jackson of The Miami Herald, the free agent center is actually spending four days working out at Kaseya Center this week as the club considers whether to sign him. No decisions have been made yet, but a source tells Jackson that the Heat have “long shown an appreciation” for the former first-rounder’s skill set.
The Heat have 14 players on standard contracts and could make Jones their 15th man, but the club is just a little over the luxury tax line and may not fill that final roster spot to open the season. The big man is also ineligible to receive a two-way contract.
While Jackson suggests an Exhibit 10 deal could be a possibility, Jones has reportedly drawn serious interest from the Italian team Virtus Bologna, who could offer him guaranteed money and a more significant role, so it’s unclear if a non-guaranteed camp contract would appeal to the 24-year-old.
We have more on the Heat:
- Within that same Herald story, Jackson spoke to a veteran Eastern Conference scout to get his take on the Heat’s place in the Eastern Conference hierarchy, their offseason acquisition of Norman Powell, what they can expect from Simone Fontecchio, and his impressions of first-round pick Kasparas Jakucionis. On that last subject, the scout wasn’t especially enthusiastic. “NBA people I talked to in Las Vegas were killing him, didn’t have anything nice to say about him,” the scout said of Jakucionis. “Quickness and shooting were my concern. Can he beat [skilled NBA players] off the dribble? He better be able to make shots. His play was disappointing, but I’m not ready to judge. He’s [very young at 19].”
- While Alec Burks expressed interest at the end of last season in returning to the Heat, a reunion with the veteran guard no longer makes sense after the club added Powell and Fontecchio, writes Ira Winderman of The South Florida Sun Sentinel (subscription required).
- The Heat have no shortage of players benefiting from international competition this summer, with Powell, Fontecchio, Nikola Jovic, and Pelle Larsson all representing their national teams, as Winderman writes for The Sun Sentinel (subscription required). Powell led Jamaica to the two wins they needed in order to advance out of the World Cup pre-qualifying round before sitting out the third and final game of this competition window, Winderman adds (via Twitter).
- The Heat and Magic announced on Tuesday that they’ll open their preseason with a game in San Juan, Puerto Rico on October 4. In total, the Heat will play six preseason games, as they outlined in a press release.
- Heat Hall-of-Famers Dwyane Wade, Alonzo Mourning, and Pat Riley will be the presenters when longtime team owner Micky Arison is inducted into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame next month, per a press release.
Nuggets Sign Kessler Edwards
10:00 pm: The deal is official, per RealGM’s transaction log.
1:32 pm: The Nuggets and free agent forward Kessler Edwards have reached an agreement on a deal, reports Michael Scotto of HoopsHype (Twitter link).
Edwards, who turned 25 on Saturday, has appeared in at least 36 games in each of the past four seasons after being drafted 44th overall out of Pepperdine in 2021. He played some of his best basketball in the second half of 2024/25 for a Mavericks team beset by injuries.
With several key frontcourt players sidelined for Dallas, Edwards averaged 8.7 points, 4.6 rebounds, and 1.8 assists in 24.8 minutes per night with a .538/.486/.900 shooting line from February 10 to March 19. He started in 14 of 16 games during that stretch before reaching his two-way games played limit.
In total, Edwards made 40 appearances (18 starts) for the Mavs, averaging 4.2 PPG and 2.9 RPG on .496/.407/.923 shooting in 15.2 MPG. He holds career averages of 3.6 PPG and 2.2 RPG in 12.7 MPG across 178 outings for Brooklyn, Sacramento, and Dallas.
Scotto doesn’t provide any details on what sort of contract Edwards and the Nuggets have agreed to, but Vinny Benedetto of The Denver Gazette reports (via Twitter) it’s a non-guaranteed Exhibit 10 deal.
The Nuggets are carrying 14 players on guaranteed standard contracts, so there could be a path for Edwards to make the team as a 15th man, but Denver is already operating slightly over the tax line and may want to keep that spot open to start the season. Edwards is no longer eligible for a two-way contract.
Suns Officially Announce Jordan Ott’s Coaching Staff
The Suns have officially announced the coaching staff that will work under new head coach Jordan Ott during his first year on the job. Most, but not all, of Phoenix’s new coaches were previously reported — now they’ve formally been hired.
Here’s the Suns’ new team of assistant coaches:
- Jesse Mermuys (story): A longtime NBA assistant who spent the past four seasons with the Magic and has also had stints with the Kings, Lakers, Raptors, Rockets, and Nuggets.
- DeMarre Carroll (story): A former NBA forward who transitioned to coaching following his retirement as a player and has worked for the Bucks, the Lakers, and – most recently – the Cavaliers since 2022.
- Brian Randle (story): A Wizards assistant last season who previously worked for the Pistons, Suns, and Timberwolves and had a professional playing career overseas.
- Chaisson Allen: A carryover from Mike Budenholzer‘s staff who previously served as the head coach of the Wisconsin Herd in the G League from 2021-23.
- John Little (story): A veteran G League assistant who was the head coach of the Valley Suns, Phoenix’s NBAGL affiliate, in 2024/25.
- Mike Muscala (story): A longtime NBA forward/center who retired as a player last summer and is taking on his first coaching job.
- Sean Dwyer: A college coach who spent the past four years as an assistant at Loyola University Chicago, including the 2024/25 season as the team’s associate head coach.
The Suns also officially confirmed that they’ve hired former NBA point guard Mateen Cleaves as a player development/leadership assistant, as previously reported.
Both Cleaves and Dwyer share an alma mater (Michigan State) with Ott and Suns team owner Mat Ishbia. General manager Brian Gregory also began his coaching career as a Spartans assistant from 1990-96 and later returned in the same role from 1999-2003, during which time he overlapped with Ishbia.