Ron Chenoy-USA TODAY Sports
The Phoenix Suns reportedly are hiring Frank Vogel as their next head coach to replace Monty Williams, who was fired after being eliminated from the playoffs this season.
Vogel’s contract with the Suns reportedly will span five years and is worth $31 million.
Vogel last coached for the Los Angeles Lakers in the 2021-22 regular season. He was let go in April 2022, and the team hired Darvin Ham to take his place.
The Suns also considered Doc Rivers, the former Philadelphia 76ers head coach, for the position, but he ended up pulling his name from consideration.
Through his three seasons as the Lakers’ head coach, Vogel compiled a 127-98 record and won 18 playoff games. He also led the team to the NBA Finals in the 2019-20 season. The Lakers beat the Miami Heat in the Orlando, Fla. bubble that season, winning the team’s first championship with LeBron James on the roster.
Vogel has been around the NBA for a long time. He has served as a head coach in the NBA for the Indiana Pacers and Orlando Magic and actually began his NBA coaching career as an assistant for the Boston Celtics in the 2001-02 season.
Vogel spent three seasons on Boston’s staff before moving on to another coaching position with the 76ers.
The Suns are looking for a new voice to help them get back to the NBA Finals after failing to do so in the last two seasons. Phoenix made the NBA Finals in the 2020-21 campaign, but it lost to the Milwaukee Bucks.
Phoenix actually knocked Vogel’s Lakers out of the playoffs that season in the first round. Since then, the team has come up short in the postseason despite high expectations.
In the 2021-22 season, the Suns were the No. 1 seed in the Western Conference, but an injury to guard Devin Booker made them play a few more games than they would have liked in the first round against the New Orleans Pelicans.
Even with Booker returning, Phoenix was then upset by the Dallas Mavericks in the second round, losing at home in Game 7 in embarrassing fashion.
This season, the Suns were eliminated in the second round by the Denver Nuggets. The team dealt with another injury, this time to point guard Chris Paul, in that series.
Phoenix is hoping that Vogel can bring a new perspective to the team and hopefully put in back in contention for an NBA title next season.
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