When the news broke on May 1, 2025, that the Phoenix Suns were handing the keys to Brian Gregory, the collective reaction from the Valley was a mix of confusion and a very specific type of skepticism. "Wait, the college coach?" was the common refrain. For a franchise that has spent the better part of the Mat Ishbia era making "splashy" moves—trading for Kevin Durant and Bradley Beal—promoting a guy whose resume is built on mid-major NCAA success felt like a sharp left turn into a brick wall.
But if you’ve been watching how Ishbia runs his businesses, it actually makes a weird kind of sense.
Brian Gregory didn't just stumble into the Suns front office. He was the Vice President of Player Programming first, a role that honestly sounded like a corporate placeholder until you saw the 2024 NBA Draft results. While fans were arguing about luxury tax aprons, Gregory was reportedly the guy in the room banging the table for Ryan Dunn and Oso Ighodaro. Those picks turned out to be some of the only bright spots in a season that otherwise felt like a slow-motion car crash.
The Michigan State Connection Nobody Can Ignore
Let’s be real for a second. In Phoenix, if you didn't go to Michigan State, do you even exist to the front office?
Mat Ishbia was a walk-on at MSU from 1999 to 2002. Guess who was an assistant coach on Tom Izzo’s staff during that exact same window? Brian Gregory. They won a national title together in 2000. That kind of shared history creates a level of "alignment"—a word Gregory used about twenty times in his introductory press conference—that Ishbia clearly prizes over traditional NBA executive experience.
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It’s easy to call it nepotism. A lot of people do. But the counter-argument is that Gregory has three decades of evaluating talent under high-pressure circumstances. He wasn't just Ishbia's buddy; he was a guy who led Dayton to an NIT title in 2010 and stabilized a South Florida program that was basically in the basement before he got there.
What the General Manager Promotion Actually Changed
When James Jones was moved to "Senior Advisor," the power dynamic in Phoenix shifted. Jones was the "Champ," the cool-headed former player who preferred a quiet front office. Gregory is the opposite. He’s a "dog" guy. He wants players who play with a specific kind of grit—the kind he recruited at the college level when he didn't have five-star budgets.
The move wasn't just about a title change; it was a mandate to fix a roster that had become top-heavy and, frankly, a bit soft.
- Roster Retooling: Gregory was immediately tasked with the impossible: finding a way to build around Devin Booker while dealing with the aging contracts of Durant and Beal.
- The Identity Crisis: Under Gregory, the Suns have moved toward "positionless" length. The Ryan Dunn pick was the blueprint.
- The Coaching Search: One of his first major acts was leading the search for a new head coach after Mike Budenholzer’s short-lived tenure ended in a 36-46 disaster.
Gregory’s philosophy is basically "toughness or bust." He openly talked about how some players might look great on paper but simply "aren't a Phoenix Sun." That’s a bold thing to say when your team is staring down a massive luxury tax bill and has almost zero trade flexibility.
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Why the Brian Gregory Era is a Massive Gamble
Honestly, the risk here is huge. Gregory had never been an NBA executive before 2024. He’s spent his entire life in the college game, where you recruit kids for four years, not manage million-dollar egos and complex CBA trades.
There were reports from insiders like "Scoop B" Robinson that Gregory wasn't even the one who made the final calls on the 2024 draft—that it was actually Gerald Madkins. If that’s true, then the narrative that Gregory is a "draft guru" might be more PR than reality.
Then there’s the Kevin Durant factor. By the time Gregory took the GM job, rumors were already swirling that the Suns would work with Durant to find him a new home. Managing the exit of a top-15 all-time player is a "Trial by Fire" moment for any GM, let alone one who was coaching against East Carolina in the AAC tournament just two years prior.
The Bottom Line on the Suns' New Direction
Is Brian Gregory the "brilliant basketball mind" Ishbia claims he is? Or is he just a loyalist from the Michigan State days brought in to say "yes" to an owner who wants to be his own GM?
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The truth is probably somewhere in the middle. Gregory brings a developmental focus that the Suns desperately needed after years of trading away every single draft pick. He’s trying to build a culture of "alignment," which is a nice way of saying he wants everyone to stop bickering and play hard.
If you’re a Suns fan, you’re looking for a few specific indicators of success over the next twelve months:
- Draft Consistency: Does the team continue to find contributors in the late first and second rounds?
- The Durant Trade: If KD is moved, does Gregory get back a haul of young assets, or does he settle for a collection of spare parts?
- Roster Balance: Can he actually find "dogs" who can play defense, or is the team still just a collection of mid-range shooters who don't want to get back in transition?
Watch the waiver wire and the end-of-bench rotations. That’s where Gregory’s college-scouting background will either shine or be exposed as "not ready for prime time."
Next Steps for Suns Fans
To truly gauge how the Gregory era is going, track the minutes played by the team’s rookie and sophomore players compared to the previous James Jones era. A significant uptick in "developmental" minutes is the clearest sign that the front office is actually executing on Gregory's stated vision of a younger, hungrier roster. Additionally, keep an eye on the 2026 trade deadline; if Gregory fails to move one of the "Big Three" for defensive depth, the "alignment" talk will likely be replaced by another front-office overhaul.