Yet another head coach who oversaw a team led by Kevin Durant has been given the boot.
News surfaced on Thursday that the Phoenix Suns had decided to move in a different direction, as Frank Vogel was relieved of his duties. Vogel wasn’t at fault for Phoenix’s failure, but he wasn’t totally blameless either. In the end, Durant will end up playing for a sixth head coach since he left Golden State. And when fingers are pointed, it’s usually in the direction of a player who’s run through more head coaches than teams.
While teams’ failure to meet expectations has ultimately led to several coaches’ firings, Durant is culpable. He’s the one who hasn’t met those expectations, and injuries or other factors are out of his control aside.
On ESPN’s Freddie & Harry, that led to Freddie Coleman and Harry Douglas talking about how they found it “amazing” that the Suns forward was running off another coach — again.
“When do we start circling that drain and say ‘Kevin Durant – what are you doing?”@ColemanESPN and @HDouglas83 react to the breaking news that Frank Vogel has been fired as the Phoenix Suns HC and wonder how culpable Durant is in the failures of the team…
— Freddie and Harry (@FreddieandHD) May 9, 2024
“When the guy he really wanted to be coached by joined that team—Golden State—he wanted out of that,” said Coleman. He wanted to control the situation. Kevin Durant, I love your basketball ability; you still don’t know more than a coach because you’ve never done it. And you run off coaches time and time again since you decided to run yourself out of Golden State.
“At a certain point, when do we start circling that drain and saying, ‘Kevin Durant—what are you doing? Why are you making this happen? Why are you running off guys, they lose their jobs, and you abandon the organization anyway?’ Like when you’re with the Brooklyn Nets when that became a dire situation. And now the Phoenix Suns, apparently, you didn’t like Frank Vogel, so they chose Kevin Durant.
“Not for nothing, as great as he’s been. What has he done that you should allow him to make that kind of a decision? Or allow him to make that decision as an owner?”
In any event, it might be time to have a dialogue around Durant, and Coleman has the ball rolling in that
direction.
[Freddie & Harry on X]