Ex-Suns Forward Lands Major Coaching Job

The Suns will not be able to hire this former player onto new coach Jordan Ott's staff.

Nov 6, 2021; Dallas, Texas, USA; Dallas Mavericks assistant coach Jared Dudley works with the Mavericks before the game against the Boston Celtics at the American Airlines Center. Mandatory Credit: Jerome Miron-Imagn Images | Jerome Miron-Imagn Images

PHOENIX -- Former Phoenix Suns forward Jared Dudley, who was rumored to be among the candidates for Phoenix's head coaching vacancy this summer, has accepted a major coaching role.

ESPN's Shams Charania reported on X Thursday:

"Dallas Mavericks assistant Jared Dudley is finalizing a deal to become the top assistant coach for the Denver Nuggets under David Adelman, Andy Miller of Klutch Sports tells ESPN. Dudley has been on Mavs' staff since 2021 after a 14-year NBA career."

Dallas Mavericks assistant Jared Dudley is finalizing a deal to become the top assistant coach for the Denver Nuggets under David Adelman, Andy Miller of Klutch Sports tells ESPN. Dudley has been on Mavs' staff since 2021 after a 14-year NBA career. pic.twitter.com/sA5gN2yp8h

— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) July 3, 2025

Dudley was also rumored to be a possibility to join new Suns coach Jordan Ott's staff as an assistant, but it would not have been as a lead assistant, as multiple reports suggest Ott is looking for a former head coach to fill the role of the top bench coach.

Dudley played with the Suns from 2009-13 and also from 2016-18, developing a great relationship with Devin Booker during his second stint. In total, he played 468 of his 904 career games for the Suns, averaging 8.7 points and 3.4 rebounds while shooting 40.4% from 3-point range for Phoenix.

With Dudley's departure to Denver, the Mavericks have lost their three top assistants under Kidd this offseason, and former Suns coach Frank Vogel was hired to be the top assistant.

The Suns have been reported by The Stein Line to be believed to be bringing in DeMarre Carroll and Brian Randle for two of their top-3 assistant roles with the former head coach yet to be named. You can read more about that by clicking here.

Ott, who was officially hired on June 6, described what he was looking for when building out his staff in his introductory press conference last month.

"You want your staff to be high character and high care, so who they are as people: loyal, trustworthy; and then do they do the work?" Ott said. "And if we can consistently find that in our staff, we're in good shape.

"I'll also say I have so much respect for the coaching profession that we know how hard it is to rise in this profession, and how hard it is when some type of change like this occurs. So we're going to take our time. We're going to fill this thing out right again to help our group, help our players, make sure we're all on the same page. But yes, we will be building our staff out throughout the month."