Former Los Angeles Lakers assistant coach Jordan Ott has been hired as the new head coach of the rival Phoenix Suns.
Phoenix had put itself back at the drawing board after firing its third head coach in as many seasons earlier in 2025. Ott will now look to break the trend of one-year stints with a franchise that'd previously prioritized past head-coaching experience above all else.
Ott brings something new to the table, having worked as a video coordinator with the Atlanta Hawks from 2013 to 2016, and as an assistant coach at various stops over the past nine years.
Ott was an assistant coach for the Lakers between 2022 and 2024. He earned a reputation for thriving in the player development realm, helping Darvin Ham's Los Angeles teams excel due in no small part to the internal growth achieved by the likes of Rui Hachimura and Austin Reaves.
According to Shams Charania of ESPN, Ott will now get his first head-coaching opportunity as the sideline general for the Suns.
Just In: The Phoenix Suns are hiring Cleveland Cavaliers assistant Jordan Ott as the franchise's new head coach, sources tell ESPN. Ott has been an NBA assistant since 2012 and has a strong background of offensive and defensive creativity, player development and communication. pic.twitter.com/doDE6Fahdj
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) June 4, 2025
The Suns job is one of the most polarizing in the NBA, but if Ott's reputation translates to the head coaching realm, a Lakers rival will have found an ideal new leader.
Suns hire former Lakers assistant coach Jordan Ott as new head coach
Phoenix fired head coach Monty Williams in 2023 after a four-year stint that included a trip to the 2021 NBA Finals and a 64-win season in 2021-22. It entrusted its future to former Lakers head coach Frank Vogel, who helped the purple and gold win a championship in 2019-20.
Unfortunately, Vogel was fired after just one season despite leading the Suns to 49 wins in a campaign that saw Bradley Beal miss 29 games and Devin Booker absent from 14.
Mike Budenholzer took over in 2024-25, carrying a championship reputation of his own into Phoenix. He'd led the Milwaukee Bucks to the title in 2020-21, and had already guided two different franchises to 60-win campaigns.
Unfortunately, Budenholzer experienced the same fate as Vogel: Fired after just one injury-plagued season, with Beal and Kevin Durant missing a combined 49 games.
Ott will now receive the position with an entirely different track record and reputation going into his first season at the helm. He's never held a head-coaching position, but has excelled on staffs led by the likes of Kenny Atkinson, Budenholzer, Ham, and Jacque Vaughn.
With more than a decade of experience as a video coordinator or assistant coach, perhaps it was only a matter of time before Ott received the opportunity to lead a team. One simply couldn't have expected him to go from the Lakers to a bitter rival.
Suffice it to say, an eventful Suns summer has only just begun.