The Phoenix Suns are bringing in a championship-winning coach to lead their chase for an elusive NBA title.
The team reportedly is finalizing a deal to hire Frank Vogel as its next head coach. The Athletic’s Shams Charania and ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski first reported the news, with Charania saying the deal is for $31 million over five years.
Vogel won a title with the Los Angeles Lakers in 2020 and was fired by the team after the 2021-22 campaign. He was out of the league this past season and will now take the place of Monty Williams, who reportedly joined the Detroit Pistons on a six-year, $78.5 million contract earlier this week.
Vogel started his NBA coaching career as an assistant with the Boston Celtics in 2001. He spent three seasons in Boston, one as an assistant with the Philadelphia 76ers and then landed in Indiana.
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The Pacers hired Vogel as an assistant coach in 2007 and he was in the role for three full seasons before replacing Jim O'Brien during the 2010-11 campaign. Vogel led the team to the playoffs in five of his six seasons in charge and reached two Eastern Conference Finals.
Indiana did not re-sign Vogel after the 2015-16 season, and he went to Orlando to take the Magic’s head job. The Magic swiftly moved on from Vogel after two losing seasons.
After one year out of the league, Vogel found himself in the City of Angels. The Lakers hired him in 2019 and he proceeded to win a championship in his first season with playoff games in the Orlando bubble. Things went downhill from there, as the Lakers were bounced in the first round of the 2021 playoffs – by the Suns – and went just 33-49 in 2021-22, leading the team to fire him.
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Vogel was joined by former Sixers coach Doc Rivers and Suns assistant coach Kevin Young as finalists for the Suns job, Wojnarowski reported. Phoenix also reportedly had discussions with former Toronto Raptors head coach Nick Nurse, who wound up replacing Rivers in Philadelphia.
Now, Vogel will lead a roster that features Kevin Durant, Devin Booker and Chris Paul. The team made a blockbuster trade for Durant shortly after new owner Mat Ishbia took over, but an injury limited Durant to just eight regular season games before the playoffs. The team got past the Los Angeles Clippers in the first round, but they were no match for the top-seeded Denver Nuggets in the second round with Paul and Deandre Ayton suffering injuries.
