NBA assistant coach gets lucrative consolation prize

Young has been a Phoenix assistant since 2020, after four years on Brett Brown's staff with the Philadelphia 76ers. He was a finalist for the head coaching job in Phoenix after Monty Williams was fired, after previously interviewing for the top job in Philadelphia, Utah, Houston, Toronto and Milwaukee. 

Many insiders believed that Young was getting the Suns job, including The Ringer's Bill Simmons, who spoke confidently about the imminent Young hiring on his podcast.

"From the producers of 'I told you Bronny was going to USC six months ago'", Simmons told guest Kevin O'Connor, "It's going to be Kevin Young."

The Sports Guy may have been right about Bronny James' college of choice, but he missed on Young. Perhaps Young also believed he'd get the job, which may be why new owner Mat Ishbia paid up to keep him on new coach Frank Vogel's staff.

The 41-year-old Young is now the NBA's highest-paid assistant, signing a five-year $10 million deal. As a desirable head coaching candidate, it would be a surprise if he was with the Suns for the entire length of that deal. But it provides Young job security, and functions as a very expensive "We're sorry we didn't hire you" gift.

For the Suns, the deal makes a lot of sense. They clearly like Young enough to strongly consider him for the head job. While they picked Vogel instead, Young has three years of experience with the organization, which should be valuable for a new head coach. And it should also make star Devin Booker happy to keep Young around, after Booker reportedly endorsed him for the top job.

Young clearly wants to be an NBA head coach. While he'll have to wait for that opportunity, being the highest-paid assistant coach is a pretty good consolation prize.