Suns to hire Frank Vogel: Why Phoenix is choosing former Lakers head coach to lead Devin Booker, Kevin Durant

Scott Rafferty

Suns to hire Frank Vogel: Why Phoenix is choosing former Lakers head coach to lead Devin Booker, Kevin Durant image

The Suns appear to have made a decision on who will replace Monty Williams.

According to ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski, the Suns are planning to hire Frank Vogel to be their next head coach. The two sides are said to be working on a "long-term deal."

Vogel is set to take over a Suns team hoping to compete for a championship in the years to come. Since making the NBA Finals in 2020, they won a league-best 64 games in 2021-22 and made a blockbuster trade for Kevin Durant in 2022-23. Phoenix came up short in the 2023 NBA Playoffs, losing to the Nuggets in the Western Conference Semifinals.

Is Vogel the right coach to help the Suns get over the hump?

Why the Suns are hiring Frank Vogel

Vogel will bring a lot of experience with him to Phoenix. 

Vogel started his head coaching career with the Pacers. While those teams never made it to the Finals, they still had a lot of success, earning four straight trips to the playoffs between 2010 and 2014, two of which resulted in Eastern Conference Finals appearances.

More recently, Vogel spent three seasons as the head coach of the Lakers. He led the franchise to a championship in 2020.

MORE: Why the Lakers fired Vogel

Vogel has a history of building elite defenses. The Suns were one of the better defensive teams in the league this season but fell apart on that end of the court in the playoffs. Vogel also has experience coaching stars. Paul George and Roy Hibbert became All-Stars under Vogel in Indiana, and he coached LeBron James and Anthony Davis in Los Angeles.

That experience should come in handy considering Vogel will take over a Suns team led by Devin Booker and Kevin Durant, and features a former All-Star in Chris Paul and one of the league's best young centers in Deandre Ayton.

Frank Vogel coaching record

Vogel has a 431-389 record in the regular season and a 49-39 record in the playoffs.

Season Team Regular season record Playoffs record
2010-11 Pacers 20-18 1-4
2011-12 Pacers 42-24 6-5
2012-13 Pacers 49-32 11-8
2013-14 Pacers 56-26 10-9
2014-15 Pacers 38-44 -
2015-16 Pacers 45-37 3-4
2016-17 Magic 29-53 -
2017-18 Magic 25-57 -
2018-19 - - -
2019-20 Lakers 52-19 16-5
2020-21 Lakers 42-30 2-4
2021-22 Lakers 33-49 -
2022-23 - - -

Frank Vogel contract details

According to The Athletic's Shams Charania, the Suns and Vogel are finalizing a five-year, $31 million contract.

News broke earlier in the week that Vogel's predecessor in Phoenix, Monty Williams, agreed to sign a record-breaking six-year, $78.5 million contract with the Pistons.

Scott Rafferty

Scott Rafferty Photo

 

Scott Rafferty is an experienced NBA journalist who first started writing for The Sporting News in 2017. There are few things he appreciates more than a Nikola Jokic no-look pass, Klay Thompson heat check or Giannis Antetokounmpo eurostep. He's a member of the NBA Global team.