The Phoenix Suns are at a crossroads. Their superstar-laden roster has failed to live up to expectations. That's led the franchise to search for a new head coach.
With an owner with big pockets, conventional thinking would be that Phoenix is willing to pay whatever it takes to land its next leader on the sidelines. Interestingly enough, the Suns are taking a different approach, and two of the eight coaching candidates who have reportedly advanced to the next round of interviews have ties to the Los Angeles Lakers.
According to longtime NBA insider Chris Haynes, the eight candidates being considered by Phoenix are Sean Sweeney, David Fizdale, James Borrego, Johnnie Bryant, Jordan Ott, Steve Hetzel, Micah Nori, and Dave Bliss.
Two names on that list, Jordan Ott and David Fizdale, should be very familiar to Lakers fans. The two recently worked in Los Angeles under the then-head coaches Darvin Ham and Frank Vogel. Following their stints with the Lakers, Ott joined the Cleveland Cavaliers as an assistant under Kenny Atkinson, while Fizdale most recently served as an assistant coach for the Suns.
Of the two, Fizdale has a much longer coaching resume than Ott. He has also been part of the organization in Phoenix since 2023, so he is very familiar with each and every player on the roster as well as what the front office is looking to do moving forward.
Ott's experience in the NBA is not as extensive. He broke into the league as a video coordinator on Mike Budenholzer's staff with the Atlanta Hawks and served in that role from 2013-2016. He then spent six seasons with the Brooklyn Nets as an assistant before signing on with the Lakers.
Lakers fans never want to help out a division rival, especially one that already has a pair of superstars on the roster. If Phoenix elects to pursue Fizdale or Ott, it will be interesting to see what the former Lakers assistants choose to do.
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