Johnnie Bryant Denied Suns Job; Knicks Next?

The sun has set on one opportunity for former New York Knicks assistant coach Johnnie Bryant but another could rise in Manhattan.

Per Shams Charania of ESPN, the Phoenix Suns opted to hire Jordan Ott as the next head coach on Wednesday. Earlier this week, Charania labeled Bryant and Ott the two finalists for the position of succeeding Mike Budenholzer, who was let go after one disappointing season at the Phoenix helm.

Both Bryant and Ott served on Kenny Atkinson's debut staff in Cleveland, which guided the Cavaliers to 64 victories, tops in the Eastern Conference. Ott, who previously served as an assistant in Atlanta, Brooklyn, and Los Angeles, was said to have won the approval of Suns franchise face Devin Booker, who was involved in the search alongside CEO Josh Bartelstein, general manager Brian Gregory, and owner Mat Ishbia.

Phoenix's hiring of Ott leaves the NBA's lone coach vacancy in New York after five-year boss Tom Thibodeau was relieved of duty on Tuesday. In the immediate aftermath of Thibodeau's ousting, some pegged Bryant as the right man to lead the Knicks into the future.

Bryant spent four seasons as Thibodeau's right-hand man in Manhattan, taking over the associate head coach role in 2020 before leaving to take the same spot on Atkinson's staff. The Knicks reached the playoff in three of four seasons under Bryant's partial watch and Bryant stated he would "always remember" his time in New York.

"In this business you always got to be ready for other opportunities," Bryant told Stefan Bondy of the New York Post in April. "My time in New York was great. Learned a lot from [head coach Tom Thibodeau]. [Team president] Leon [Rose] and [executive vice president William Wesley] were great. [Owner James] Dolan was great to me and my family.

In addition to his time with the Knicks and Cavs, Bryant also served as an assistant on Quin Snyder's staffs in Utah.