The Phoenix Suns expect to name current vice president of player programming Brian Gregory to become the new head of their front office, promoting him to the general manager title, confirmed Arizona Sports’ John Gambadoro.
ESPN’s Shams Charania first reported that promotion and that current president of basketball operations and general manager James Jones will shift titles to senior advisor.
The shifts, which the Suns made official also will see Suns and Mercury CEO Josh Bartelstein sticking with his title, but Gregory will report directly to owner Mat Ishbia, reports Gambadoro. Phoenix additionally promoted Oronde Taliaferro to assistant general manager, while chief innovation officer Paul Rivers will “add basketball operations responsibilities” to his current role.
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“Brian has been a valuable member of our front office, playing an integral role in drafting and developing our young players,” Ishbia said in a release. “I am excited for him to step in to the role of general manager. He is a brilliant basketball mind, and he will transform and elevate our team.”
Gregory was hired by Phoenix as the new vice president of player programming last June, a part of the new front office hires that included assistant general manager Matt Tellem.
This past season was Gregory’s first in not only an NBA front office but the league in general. The majority of Gregory’s basketball background is in coaching at the collegiate level. That most notably began at Michigan State from 1990-96 starting as a graduate assistant and then rejoined as an assistant coach from 1999-2003, time he spent coaching Suns owner Mat Ishbia for three seasons when Ishbia played for the Spartans.
Gregory left Michigan State in 2003 to become the head coach of Dayton for eight years, posting a 172-94 record. He was then hired by Georgia Tech in 2011, where he struggled, going 76-86 and was not retained after five seasons.
Gregory spent the 2016-17 season as a consultant at Michigan State before taking on his third head coaching gig, this time at South Florida. It was another stop without much results, with six years resulting in a 79-107 record before he was fired in March 2023.
Since Ishbia became the new owner of the franchise in February 2023, the lead decision-makers in the front office have been Jones and president and CEO Josh Bartelstein. Bartelstein also oversees the business operations of the Phoenix Mercury and the teams’ shared arena.
Gregory has a laundry list of tasks to get done this offseason.
First and foremost, the Suns need a new head coach after Phoenix relieved former head coach Mike Budenholzer of duties on April 14.
After that, Phoenix will presumably go through with the plan of working with Kevin Durant on a trade, while also entertaining all possibilities for getting Bradley Beal off the roster.
The way in which Gregory goes about those decisions could help the Suns cut back on their payroll and get under the second apron to free up some roster flexibility.
There is also a new contract extension that can be offered to Devin Booker. Booker has three more years left on his current contract that runs through to the summer of 2028. The extension can be for two more years and worth an additional $150 million.
The shift in the front office comes after what is seen as one of the most disappointing seasons in franchise history, a season that has a case to top that leaderboard.
Phoenix had a record of 36-46, missing the postseason entirely. It follows a team led by Durant and Booker getting swept in the first round the year prior, which led to many changes, including a new head coach in Mike Budenholzer and more depth to the roster. None of that helped and Budenholzer was fired at the end of the season.
James Jones era appears to sunset
The 2021 NBA Executive of the Year’s tenure atop the totem pole comes to an end after working with five head coaches, two owners and one interim governor since he made the immediate jump from a playing career (2003-17) to a high-ranking executive position in 2017.
Jones was hired by prior owner Robert Sarver under former GM Ryan McDonough. The placement of Jones as GM in 2019, his hiring of head coach Monty Williams and eventually trading for point guard Chris Paul were some of the more pivotal moves in franchise history.
Prior to the 2019-20 season and Williams’ involvement, Phoenix was coming off four seasons with a combined record of 87-241 (.265). With Williams and Jones aligning on a style of play and type of players who gave the organization a clear basketball culture, Phoenix went 194-115 the next four years.
That included a trip to the 2021 NBA Finals and a franchise-record 64 wins the next season, led by Paul and a homegrown superstar in Booker.
Jones was given a contract extension in January 2022 and at the same time promoted to president of basketball operations and GM under the interim leadership of governor Sam Garvin.
The Suns drastically failed to meet postseason expectations after the 64-win campaign under Williams, and an ownership change led to an identity shift. The day new owner Mat Ishbia officially began his tenure, the Suns landed Durant, a superstar who had an interest in joining Phoenix.
That deal saw Phoenix ship out two key members of the 2021 NBA Finals team that represented the culture Jones sought: Mikal Bridges and Cam Johnson. Reporting prior to the time of the trade suggested that Jones did not want to part with Bridges. The Suns also dealt four unprotected future first-round picks.
After four months with Ishbia as owner, the Suns fired Williams following a conference semifinals loss to the Denver Nuggets. It was the second year in a row Williams failed to get his team back to even the conference finals with championship expectations, leaving his dismissal as a justified albeit risky one given the foundation he had helped build for a franchise that had zero semblance of one.
Frank Vogel took over as head coach, and the Suns made another franchise-altering trade, acquiring Beal in the summer of 2023 less than six months after the Durant deal. The Suns sent the Washington Wizards six second-round picks (2024, 2025, 2026, 2027, 2028, 2030), four first-round pick swaps (2024, 2026, 2028, 2030), Landry Shamet, Paul and $3.5 million in cash.
On top of that, the Suns traded disgruntled big man Deandre Ayton and promising second-round pick Toumani Camara to Portland in the blockbuster Damian Lillard to Milwaukee trade. Phoenix took in center Jusuf Nurkic and sharpshooter Grayson Allen.
The newly assembled Big 3 of Durant, Booker and Beal did not debut until Dec. 13 of the ensuing season due to injuries, and the roster never quite clicked. Phoenix won 49 games but was eliminated in a four-game sweep against the Minnesota Timberwolves in the first round of the 2024 playoffs.
More change was coming.
Vogel was fired, and the Suns brought in another championship-winning head coach in Mike Budenholzer to figure out how to maximize the group. Phoenix added point guards Tyus Jones while drafting Ryan Dunn and Oso Ighodaro to complement the veteran core.
And it did not go as planned again.
Injuries, mostly for Beal, a bottom-tier defense and an offense that could not make up the difference dropped the Suns outside the playoff and play-in picture during the second half of the season. This was all while trade rumors and reports swirled over the roster, most prominently for Beal and Durant.
A months-long effort to land Jimmy Butler in a deal involving Beal never properly materialized. The Suns, however, still wanted Butler. And with Phoenix beginning to go through what would be a miserable February, the extent of the desire meant putting Durant on the table in those talks.
Phoenix set up a trade that would have sent Durant back to Golden State in order to acquire Butler, but Durant’s disinterest with the idea nixed those talks that from all indications came after both organizations agreed on a structure for the deal. Butler went to Golden State, and the Suns moved on.
They moved on by more or less salary dumping Nurkic, attaching a first-round pick to him in exchange for two non-guaranteed contracts. Phoenix also reached into its nearly barren war chest of assets to lose two second-round picks for Charlotte Hornets center Nick Richards, hopeful he would make an impact for a center rotation struggling to make any, only for Richards to have his share of ups and downs that lead to skepticism if he can be the long-term starting 5.
The Nurkic deal was made possible because the Suns traded their 2031 unprotected first-round pick to the Utah Jazz for three far less valuable firsts, a move that was heavily criticized at the time both locally and nationally.
The moves would do little changing Phoenix’s fortune, however, with the Suns missing the play-in tournament at 36-46. A day later, Budenholzer was shown the door.
Highs and lows of James Jones’ tenure as Phoenix Suns executive
Prior to Ishbia’s arrival, Jones identified what he wanted Suns basketball to be through bringing in a specific type of player. This helped him build his ideal roster on a “3×5” basis, prioritizing depth and balance across the depth chart. From draft picks like Johnson to higher-level free agent signings like Jae Crowder to minimum adds in free agency like Frank Kaminsky and Josh Okogie, Jones always found guys who fit how they play.
His tenure, like any, comes with its warts.
Anything in the Ishbia era is difficult to pin entirely on Jones, as previously said. That includes the Beal and Durant trades, plus the two whiffs of head coaching hires.
But what can be completely pinned on Jones is his type of roster catching up to him.
Jones has never been one to favor raw physical tools, such as taking a player with elite size, speed or length over someone with more refined basketball skills. He has always preferred the latter, and while it worked in the front half of his stint, it failed him miserably in the back half of it. Phoenix was continuously punked by more athletic teams the past two years and will require a roster revamp in seeking out all the physical profiles the majority of the league not only prioritizes but covets.
When it comes to mistakes during the Sarver era, the selection of Maryland big Jalen Smith with the 10th overall pick in the 2020 NBA Draft is at the top of the list.
Smith was seen as a reach at the time and bringing in a player best suited to play the 5 with Ayton already on the roster was questionable value in the lottery. It was slowly revealed over Smith’s time in Phoenix that the Suns envisioned Smith as a Pascal Siakam type, a perimeter-based and uber-versatile power forward, but that was a giant leap for a development process that didn’t pan out.
What was the most brutal about the Smith pick was the amount of quality options on the board. Tyrese Haliburton, an All-Star face of the franchise for the Indiana Pacers, went 12th and was the perfect predecessor to Paul and would have seamlessly fit as the third guard playing alongside him or Booker. More bizarrely, Haliburton fit the bill of what Jones normally liked in a draft prospect.
Usable rotation pieces like wing Devin Vassell (11th), center Isaiah Stewart (16th), guard Josh Green (18th), wing Saddiq Bey (19th) and big Precious Achiuwa (20th) were within range. So were young players who are now viewed like Haliburton as integral parts of a franchise’s long-term core: Tyrese Maxey (21st), guard Immanuel Quickley (25th), wing Jaden McDaniels (28th) and guard Desmond Bane (30th). Rookie contributions from a few of those guys, namely Haliburton, could have very well pushed the Suns over the top in the 2021 NBA Finals.
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