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The Phoenix Suns have had a busy offseason, trading Kevin Durant to the Houston Rockets in a deal that brought back Jalen Green and Dillon Brooks, and also buying out Bradley Beal. It will be quite an interesting situation to walk into for first year head coach Jordan Ott, whom the team hired to replace Mike Budenholzer.
Ott has been busy adding to his coaching staff, and recently, the Suns made another addition, although not someone who will be working the sidelines on a nightly basis.
“Just In: The Phoenix Suns are hiring Steve Clifford as a coaching advisor, sources told @hoopshype,” reported Michael Scotto of Hoopshype on X, formerly Twitter. “Clifford has 23 seasons of NBA coaching experience, including head coaching stints with the Hornets and Magic. He was also an assistant for the Knicks, Rockets, Magic and Lakers.”
Clifford most recently was the head coach for the Charlotte Hornets, which was his second stint with that organization, and has a plethora of basketball experience to bring to a suddenly much younger Suns squad.
Where do the Suns go from here?
The Suns have been working hard to dig themselves out of arguably the worst future outlook in the NBA over the course of this offseason, but things are still pretty bleak in the desert overall.
By the end of Devin Booker's current contract, the Suns will be paying their star shooting guard nearly $1 million a game. Further complicating matters is the fact that Jalen Green, the main young piece that Phoenix got back in the Durant deal, essentially plays the same position as Booker, meaning Ott will have to get creative in divvying up his rotations.
At this point, the Suns appear to be not bad enough to tank but not good enough to compete, not that tanking would help much anyway–Phoenix doesn't own several of its upcoming first round picks due to trades that were made to put together last year's disaster of a roster.
All told, things have been better in the valley.
The Suns' schedule for the 2025-26 season is slated to be released later this week.
