Suns VP of Basketball Operations Jeff Bower Parts Ways with Organization

The Phoenix Suns parted ways with vice president of basketball operations Jeff Bower on Saturday.

Shams Charania of The Athletic and Stadium reported the news. Bower had been with the organization since 2019.

It's unclear what led to Bower's departure. The Suns are coming off their most successful season in nearly 30 years, reaching the NBA Finals for the second time in franchise history before losing to the Milwaukee Bucks. 

Bower has been a coach and executive in the NBA and college basketball since the 1980s. He's had stints as the general manager of the then-New Orleans Hornets and Detroit Pistons, along with serving as the head coach of the Hornets in 2009-10 and at Marist College during the 2013-14 season.

The Suns hired Bower in 2019 to give the front office an experienced voice next to James Jones, who is in his first stint as a general manager at any level of basketball. The Jones-Bower duo helped quickly turn the Suns around, with the franchise barely missing out on the playoffs last season before earning the No. 2 seed in the conference in 2020-21.