Oronde Taliaferro Rumors

Pacific Notes: Suns Coaching Search, Gregory, Lue

May 1st, 2025 at 9:00pm CST by Alex Kirschenbaum

The Suns are currently looking for their fourth head coach in as many seasons this spring.

Phoenix announced Thursday that it has elevated incumbent front office executive Brian Gregory to its team GM role, while shifting former general manager James Jones into an advisory capacity. Per John Gambadoro of Arizona Sports 98.7 FM Phoenix (Twitter link), Gregory will start contacting agents of potential candidates immediately. 14-15 coaches are expected to be contacted.

Gambadoro hears that, following three straight disappointing seasons with very experienced coaches, the Suns are considered likely to hire a first-time NBA head coach this go-round. Gambadoro tweets that Phoenix is expected to make its decision within the next two-to-three weeks. The Suns will cull down their initial candidate list to two or three finalists over a few rounds of conversations.

There’s more out of the Pacific Division:

As Phoenix’s new top decision maker, Brian Gregory has an interesting summer ahead of him. PHNX Sports’ Gerald Bourguet offers up a fresh primer on Gregory’s history and how he and new assistant GM Oronde Taliaferro will impact the Suns’ future. Bourguet notes that, though Gregory has significant experience as a coach, his front office experience is a bit more limited.
After considering making a change to his starting lineup for a must-win Game 6, Clippers head coach Tyronn Lue told reporters that he will keep his preferred first five intact after all, per Mark Medina of Sportskeeda (via Twitter). L.A. currently trails Denver 3-2.
In case you missed it, Clippers guard Bogdan Bogdanovic and Nuggets center Nikola Jokic recently reflected on their first time suiting up against one another in a playoff series this spring.

Suns Promote Brian Gregory To General Manager

May 1st, 2025 at 2:49pm CST by Rory Maher

2:49 pm: In addition to officially promoting Gregory and moving Jones to an advisory role, the Suns have also named Oronde Taliaferro as assistant GM and announced that CIO Paul Rivers will now have basketball operations responsibilities, confirming the changes in a press release (Twitter link via Gerald Bourguet of PHNX Sports).

“Brian has been a valuable member of our front office, playing an integral role in drafting and developing our young players,” said Ishbia. “I am excited for him to step into the role of general manager. He is a brilliant basketball mind, and he will transform and elevate our team.”

2:37 pm: The Suns are making a major change to their front office, according to ESPN’s Shams Charania, who reports that vice president of player programming Brian Gregory will become the team’s new head of basketball operations, with an official title of general manager.

Sources tell Charania that former NBA veteran James Jones, who has been the Suns’ GM since 2019, will become a senior advisor in Phoenix.

Gregory, 58, played four years of college basketball in the late 1980s before transitioning to coaching. He had two different stints as an assistant at Michigan State — the second overlapped with Suns owner Mat Ishbia‘s time with the Spartans, Charania notes.

After 13 years as an NCAA assistant, Gregory landed his first head coaching job with Dayton back in 2003, remaining with the Flyers until 2011, when he was hired away by Georgia Tech. He stayed with the Yellow Jackets until 2016, when he was let go, serving as a special a consultant to Michigan State’s Tom Izzo during the ’16/17 campaign. Gregory was head coach of South Florida from 2017-23.

It’s a rapid rise for the longtime coach, who was hired by the Suns last June. Gregory has been credited for drafting Ryan Dunn and Oso Ighodaro in 2024, according to Charania, and has been in charge of college scouting and the pre-draft process this year, per Jake Fischer (Twitter link).

According to John Gambadoro of Arizona Sports 98.7 (Twitter link), Josh Bartelstein will remain in his role as CEO. Gregory will report directly to Ishbia, Gambadoro adds.

Marc Stein first reported that Gregory could be in line for a promotion.

Despite having the NBA’s highest payroll, the Suns are coming off a disastrous season, finishing with a 36-46 record and not even making the play-in tournament. That led to the firing of head coach Mike Budenholzer, who had four years left on his contract.