Suns Lone NBA Team Without Head Coach

The Phoenix Suns are the lone NBA franchise without a head coach.

The San Antonio Spurs and Memphis Grizzlies officially made their moves to solidify Mitch Johnson and Tuomas Iisalo, respectively, as their new head coaches after both were interim placeholders.

Johnson takes over for the legendary Gregg Popovich while Iisalo assumes full-time duties for Taylor Jenkins.

The Denver Nuggets do have interim head coach David Adelman and it's unclear if he'll have a similar fate to the aforementioned coaches. Denver plays in a Game 7 tonight against the Los Angeles Clippers.

The Suns, who recently hired a new general manager, are now expected to begin the process of finding their next head coach after firing Mike Budenholzer. Phoenix will be on their fourth head coach in as many years.

"Competing at the highest level remains our goal, and we failed to meet expectations this season. Our fans deserve better. Change is needed," the Suns put out in an official statement after firing Budenholzer.

Arizona Sports' John Gambadoro says the process of finding a head coach has already begun with roughly 15 candidates being evaluated. He's also previously ruled out the likes of Mike Malone and Jenkins for the job.

NBA insider Michael Scotto believes Phoenix isn't going to target a big name, and the Suns may be waiting for certain postseason runs to end before making an official hire.

"In the past few weeks, there’s been a strong belief that the Suns will now target a young, first-time NBA head coach to fill their vacancy, league sources told HoopsHype," said Scotto.

"Cleveland’s Jordan Ott and Oklahoma City’s Dave Bliss, two current assistant coaches on playoff teams who swept their first-round opponents, are expected to draw consideration for Phoenix’s head coaching vacancy, league sources told HoopsHype."

The Suns missed the postseason for the first time since the 2019-20 season and have some massive questions to answer this offseason before they can think about getting back.

"I want to put a team out there on the court that everyone is proud of," Ishbia said at his end-of-season press conference. "It has to have an identity -- an identity similar to Phoenix. Some grit, some determination, some work ethic, some grind, some joy.

"We just haven't had that."