Kevin Durant’s ex-Thunder teammate linked to Suns head coach job

The Phoenix Suns may be trying their best to maximize their chances of keeping Kevin Durant.

Veteran NBA writer Marc Stein reported to Substack this week that Houston Rockets assistant coach Royal Ivey is a name to monitor for the Suns’ head coach job. Phoenix is looking for a replacement after firing Mike Budenholzer earlier this month.

The 43-year-old Ivey is a former NBA guard who played in the league from 2004-14. Now with nearly a decade of NBA assistant coaching under his belt, Ivey is very much a rising star in league circles. He joined the Rockets as an assistant in 2023 and also prominently served as the head coach of South Sudan during their surprise run at the 2024 Paris Olympics (including a near-upset win over Team USA).

Ivey is also known for his close relationship with the Suns star Durant. He was college teammates with Durant at the University of Texas and also later became Durant’s teammate on the Oklahoma City Thunder (including for their run to the Finals in 2012). Even during Ivey’s coaching career, he has continued to cross paths with Durant. Ivey was an assistant for the Brooklyn Nets from 2020-23, overlapping with Durant’s time there from 2019-23.

The likeliest scenario this offseason still seems to be the second-apron-strapped Suns trading away the former NBA MVP Durant, who only has one guaranteed year left under contract. But Phoenix may not be going down without a fight as they are also reportedly interested in another figure familiar to Durant as a potential head coach candidate.

There is also a different scenario where Durant and Ivey could be reunited — in Houston as part of a rumored Durant-to-the-Rockets trade possibility.