The Phoenix Suns’ surprise hire of Igor Kokoskov as their new head coach is notable for a number of reasons, including that it may provide some insight into the direction they are planning to go in this year’s draft.
The Suns announced the hire of Kokoskov, an assistant for the Utah Jazz, on Wednesday, making him the first European-born head coach in the NBA. Though Kokoskov is from Serbia, he coached Real Madrid star Luka Doncic on the Slovenian national team for two years from 2016 to 2017 (including a EuroBasket gold medal last summer). That led some to believe that the Suns may now be more likely to draft Doncic in the NBA Draft this coming June.
The Phoenix Suns' new head coach, Igor Kokoskov, was Luka Doncic's head coach when he won the 2017 EuroBasket title. The Suns were already an intriguing destination for Doncic, but now he makes a TON of sense.
— Alex Kennedy (@AlexKennedyNBA) May 2, 2018
Phoenix finished with the worst record in the league last season at 21-61 and thus have the best odds of landing the No. 1 overall pick in the draft (as well as a 64.2 percent chance of picking in the top three). Doncic, the 19-year-old swingman, is widely projected to be a top-three pick.
The Suns already have a number of European-born players on their roster, including Alex Len and Dragan Bender. Adding a European-born coach to the mix may indeed bode well for Doncic’s chances of landing in a Phoenix uniform, especially since they all seem to love him already.
