Phoenix Suns Targeting Three Assistants for HC Vacancy

As the Phoenix Suns' search for a head coach continues, the team reportedly has three new candidates they are looking at

The Phoenix Suns’ search for a head coach continues to expand.

According to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, the Suns have started to gather permission on several assistants for head coaching interviews, including Sacramento’s Jordi Fernandez, Milwaukee’s Charles Lee and Memphis’ Darko Rajakovic.

Fernandez began his NBA employment in the player development department for the Cleveland Cavaliers. He started his coaching career in 2013 for Spain’s U19 team which led to an opportunity coaching the Canton Charge of the G-League.

From 2016-2022, Fernandez served as an assistant coach for the Denver Nuggets. Through those years, the Nuggets went from being a non-playoff team to a championship contender while Nikola Jokic won two MVPs. This past season Fernandez took a job with the Sacramento Kings as the associate head coach behind Mike Brown helping lead the Kings to their first playoff berth since 2006.

Lee’s path to this point has been a little bit different. Following four years playing basketball overseas, Lee became the assistant coach at Bucknell in 2012. He transitioned as an assistant coach for the Atlanta Hawks in 2014 making his first mark in the NBA.

Since 2018, Lee has served under Mike Budenholzer as an assistant coach for the Milwaukee Bucks. He helped lead the Bucks to an NBA championship in 2021 while during his time there, Milwaukee has been one of the best teams in the league.

Rajakovic has the most coaching experience out of these three guys. From 1996-2012, Rajakovic coached overseas before taking a job as the head coach of the Tulsa 66ers in the G-League.

Unlike Fernandez and Lee, Rajakovic actually has a lot of ties to this Suns’ team. He served as an assistant coach for the Oklahoma City Thunder from 2014-2019 so he had at least some sort of relationship with Kevin Durant who was with the Thunder organization until 2016.

During the 2019-2020 campaign, Rajakovic actually was on Phoenix’s coaching staff and has some familiarity with guys like Devin Booker and Deandre Ayton. Rajakovic’s latest stop was with the Memphis Grizzlies, serving as an assistant coach there since 2020. During Rajakovic’s three years with the team, Memphis has been in the playoffs for all of them.

The Suns certainly have a lot more to think about now regarding their vacant head coaching position with three new candidates entering the race.