Miami Heat associate head coach Chris Quinn and Dallas Mavericks assistant coach Sean Sweeney reportedly have made “strong impressions” during the interview process for the Phoenix Suns’ head coaching position.

“There have been rumbles in coaching circles that both Miami’s Chris Quinn and Dallas’ Sean Sweeney have made strong impressions in the interview process to date among the numerous assistant coaches that the Suns have spoken to since the process commenced,” NBA insider Marc Stein wrote.

The Suns are looking to turn things around in the 2025-26 season after they failed to make the playoffs in the 2024-25 campaign. Phoenix decided to fire head coach Mike Budenholzer after the 2024-25 campaign even though he spent just one season leading the franchise.

Now, it appears that Quinn, a longtime coach under Erik Spoelstra, could be the successor in Phoenix.

Quinn has been with the Heat coaching staff since the 2014-15 season when he was a player development coach. He has risen through the ranks on Spoelstra’s staff, and it was recently reported that he was key in keeping Miami’s season from going “sideways” despite all the turmoil with Jimmy Butler’s exit from the franchise.

The Heat ended up making the playoffs by winning two games in the NBA’s play-in tournament – one over the Chicago Bulls and one over the Atlanta Hawks.

As for Sweeney, he has been an assistant coach with the Mavericks, Detroit Pistons, Milwaukee Bucks and Brooklyn Nets. Sweeney was a part of the Dallas staff that led the Mavericks to the NBA Finals in the 2023-24 season.

Quinn, on the other hand, was with the Heat when they made the NBA Finals in the 2019-20 season and the 2022-23 season. So, both coaches know what it takes to make a deep playoff run.

The Suns have an impressive star trio of Devin Booker, Kevin Durant and Bradley Beal, but they have yet to win a playoff series with that group. Phoenix was eliminated in the first round of the playoffs in the 2023-24 season, and it failed to make the play-in tournament in the Western Conference in the 2024-25 season.

If Quinn ends up getting the Suns job, the Heat will need to look elsewhere to replace an important part of Spoelstra’s staff. Miami, like the Suns, is hoping to have much more overall success in the 2025-26 season.