New Phoenix Suns head coach Frank Vogel feels he's ready to lead Kevin Durant, Devin Booker and the Arizona-based franchise, thanks to his experience with LeBron James, Anthony Davis and the Los Angeles Lakers.
In his introductory press conference, Vogel opened up about how his experience with dealing with LeBron, AD and the Lakers will help him as he takes the helm in Phoenix. He emphasized that his stint with the Purple and Gold–which culminated with a championship in 2020–got him a “PhD” when it comes to navigating the partnership between a head coach and their star players.




For him, that is really important as he now tries to guide another star duo in KD and Book to the NBA title.
“I think there was lessons learned, but I think the experience of dealing with those guys in LA really gave me a PhD in the head coach, star-player partnership. Where we're going to present plans to them, and we're not going to ask them to do too much,” Vogel shared, via Trevor Booth of ClutchPoints.
“The job is going to be done at a high level in terms of creating the game plans and how we're going to play, style of play, all those types of things. But allowing them an opportunity to weigh in on what we're doing. I think those partnerships are key, I feel like I hit it out of the park with those guys in LA, and I feel like I'm going to do the same thing with these guys here.”
Frank Vogel's championship pedigree is definitely something the Suns need as they try to get over that championship hump. Team president James Jones said as much on Tuesday, noting that they “needed another leader, someone that could elevate us to the next level.”
Clearly, that experience with LeBron James and Anthony Davis and actually winning the title with them was beneficial for Vogel. Hopefully for Kevin Durant, Devin Booker and the Suns, he can make it translate in Phoenix as well.