Suns hire Raptors 905 head coach Patrick Mutombo as assistant

The Suns plan to hire Patrick Mutombo as an assistant coach, reports ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski (via Twitter). Mutombo has been the head coach of the Raptors 905, Toronto’s G League affiliate, the past two seasons.

A former Division II player for Metro State, Mutombo made several international stops in his playing career prior to becoming a coach. His first NBA job came in 2011-12, when he was named player development coordinator for Denver.

Mutombo was promoted to an assistant coach the following season and stayed with the Nuggets until 2015, when he had a one-season stint with the Austin Spurs, San Antonio’s G League affiliate. After Austin, he was hired by the Raptors as an assistant and stayed in that role from 2016-20.

In 2020, the 42-year-old was promoted to head coach of the Raptors 905. In each of Mutombo’s two seasons at the helm, the team finished with the best regular season record in the G League (12-3 in ’20-21 and 24-8 in ’21-22).

The Suns held the best regular-season record in the NBA this past season at 64-18, and head coach Monty Williams won Coach of the Year after finishing second in ’20-21. Josh Lewenberg of TSN Sports (Twitter link) believes that Mutombo could become an NBA head coach in the future.