Suns' Rivals Likely to Fire Head Coach

The Phoenix Suns and Los Angeles Lakers may be in a coaching search together.

Apr 22, 2024; Denver, Colorado, USA; Los Angeles Lakers head coach Darvin Ham in the first quarter / Ron Chenoy-USA TODAY Sports

PHOENIX -- The Phoenix Suns are still undecided on the future of Frank Vogel - at least that's what Suns owner Mat Ishbia told reporters yesterday.

"We're going to evaluate everything," Ishbia said during a press conference. "Everything is on the table to evaluate. We have just not started it."

While Ishbia wasn't willing to comment on the future of Vogel (citing he hasn't met with anybody in the organization yet), the rivaled Los Angeles Lakers are all but set to join the coaching hunt after The Athletic reported coach Darvin Ham will soon be on the way out.

"The latest I've heard is the plan is still to move on from Darvin [Ham] at some point, likely by the end of the week—potentially as early as tomorrow—then the head coaching search will start," Jovan Buha said (h/t B/R). "I've already started to hear some names from different people."

The Lakers and Suns both find themselves in precarious situations after seeing their seasons end in the first round of NBA postseason action - Phoenix being swept by the Minnesota Timberwolves while the Denver Nuggets handled Los Angeles in five games.

Reports surfaced shortly after Phoenix bowed out of the Western Conference playoffs that Vogel's job security was in question. While Suns general manager James Jones did not commit to the future of his current coach, he did offer the following:

"I thought Frank did a great job given the circumstances," Jones said. "I thought the staff did a great job. I thought the players did a really good job, just not good enough to reach our goals."

It truly feels up in the air for Vogel's fate - from a public perspective, perhaps the same can't be said of Ham over in Hollywood.