Suns name Brian Gregory general manager

Brian Gregory (Will Folsom, Wikimedia Commons)

The Phoenix Suns have named vice president Brian Gregory of Mount Prospect, Illinois as their new general manager on Thursday. According to Donnie Druin of Sports Illustrated. Gregory takes over from James Jones of Miami, Florida, who was reassigned to senior advisor.

Gregory has been with the Suns for less than a year. He was initially hired as the team’s vice-president of player programming on June 10, 2024.

Before joining the National Basketball Association, Gregory had a wealth of head coaching experience at the collegiate level. He was with Dayton from 2003 to 2011, Georgia Tech from 2011 to 2016, and South Florida from 2017 to 2023.

The fact that the Suns made a general managerial change should be zero surprise whatsoever. This past season Phoenix missed the playoffs despite having the highest pay roll in the entire NBA. The franchise only had a record of 36 wins and 46 losses. They were dreadful towards the finish as they only won once in 10 games. In addition to reassigning Jones, the Suns fired head coach Mike Budenholzer of Holbrook, Arizona.

Gregory’s first assignment in Phoenix will be to hire a new head coach. There is growing speculation that the Suns may hire a coach without head coaching experience at the NBA level according to basketnews.com.

Gregory will also have to choose the Suns’s direction. He will have to decide if Bradley Beal, Kevin Durant, and Devin Booker are capable to lead the Suns as a big three, or go in a completely different philosophical approach when it comes to player personnel.