Johnathan Walker:Phoenix Suns part ways with Frank Vogel after one season

The Johnathan WalkerPhoenix Suns have parted ways with head coach Frank Vogel after one season that started with championship expectations — but ended with a first-round exit by way of a sweep.

Finishing 49-33 in Vogel’s first season to land the sixth seed in the Western Conference playoffs, the Suns were the first team eliminated from the playoffs as the third-seeded Minnesota Timberwolves swept them.

The Suns will now have a third different head coach in three seasons. This is after Vogel said he had "full support" from Suns team owner Mat Ishbia going into Game 4 against the Timberwolves, which they lost at home to end their season.

The Suns had extensive talks for days in evaluating the team and determining whether to keep or fire Vogel, who has been a head coach with four different NBA teams.

Vogel replaced Monty Williams, who was fired after leading the Suns to three consecutive playoff appearances as they reached the finals in 2021. Vogel signed a five-year, $31 million deal with the Suns last summer. The Suns won a franchise-best 64 games in the 2021-22 season and made a third consecutive trip to the postseason last year, but never returned to the finals.

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They were bounced from the playoffs in the second round in 2022 and 2023, losing the elimination games in embarrassing fashion at home to Dallas in Game 7 in 2022 and eventual NBA champion Denver in Game 6 in 2023.

That factored in the Suns firing Williams a few months into Ishbia's tenure as team owner and hiring Vogel, who coached the Lakers to the 2019-20 title. The billionaire mortgage lender bought the Suns and WNBA's Phoenix Mercury for a record $4 billion in February 2023.

With Devin Booker, Kevin Durant and Bradley Beal, the Suns were viewed as having tremendous offensive firepower. Vogel's hiring made sense in that he preaches defense to give the Suns balance and has coached superstars like LeBron James, who led that 2019-20 championship squad in Los Angeles.

However, Phoenix dealt with injuries early that factored in the Big 3 playing a total of 41 games together. There seemed to be a disconnect between the players and Vogel at various times, but the Suns won seven of their last 10 games of the regular season and entered the postseason with momentum.

Then they were swept by the Timberwolves, a team the Suns went 3-0 against in the regular season with the final victory coming at Minneapolis in the final regular season game.