Report: Suns Could Look At Cavaliers’ Johnnie Bryant For Head Coach Job

According to NBA insiders Marc Stein and Jake Fischer, the Phoenix Suns could look at Cleveland Cavaliers associate head coach Johnnie Bryant for their head coach job. 

The Suns need a new head coach after firing Mike Budenholzer. Phoenix fired Budenholzer and Frank Vogel after one season. 

“Cavaliers associate head coach Johnnie Bryant and Rockets assistant coach Royal Ivey are two more names to monitor, league sources say,” Stein and Fischer wrote. “Ivey began establishing himself as an NBA head coaching candidate by steering South Sudan’s national team into last summer’s Paris Olympics and presumably would have an even stronger connection to this job if the Suns decide not to trade Ivey’s close friend and former college teammate Kevin Durant.”

Bryant is close with Cavaliers All-Star shooting guard Donovan Mitchell. Bryant and Mitchell have worked together with the Utah Jazz and Cavaliers. 

Mitchell told NBA reporter Marc J. Spears of Andscape that Bryant holds him accountable in Cleveland. 

“Obviously, Kenny Atkinson and I have a great relationship,” Mitchell said. “[Bryant is] a guy that’s always keeping me [honest]. Even when I have stretches where I play well, he will be like, ‘No, you ain’t done nothing yet. There is always room to grow.’ It’s always keeping yourself [humble].

“I give Coach Kenny and Johnnie Bryant a lot of credit, just because there is always a challenge. There’s always something. Never satisfied. There’s always something more, and [Bryant is] probably the guy that gets the most out of me.”

The Suns missed the playoffs this year despite having Durant, Devin Booker and Bradley Beal. 

Meanwhile, the Cavaliers are the No. 1 seed in the East. They play the Miami Heat in the first round of the playoffs. 

“I’ve been to the conference finals,” Mitchell told Spears. “I can use it as fuel, but then you got to go out there and produce a win. To shut them [critics] up, you got to go out there and win. So that’s the main goal, and I will do it by any means necessary. It doesn’t mean I have to go out and score 40 points every night. I’ve got to make the guys around me better.”