What a strange journey that isEarl Watson on the benches. The former Sonics, Grizzlies and Jazz player had joined the staff of the Austin Spurs, San Antonio's G-League team, as soon as he retired from the courts in 2014. The following year, he joined Jeff Hornacek's staff at the Suns, except that the latter was going to be fired during the season, and Earl Watson was going to take his place directly as “head coach”!
At 36, the transition was probably too quick for the player concerned, who was extended and then finally fired after three defeats at the start of the 2017/18 campaign.
Among the main accusers of owner Robert Sarver, forced to sell the Suns following his racist and misogynistic behavior, Earl Watson had found a position as an assistant within Nick Nurse's staff, at the Raptors, starting in 2021. But the coach's departure to Philadelphia had left him on the sidelines.
A year later, he was back as an assistant, but not in the NBA. Chris Haynes announces: that he agreed to join Steve Lavin's staff at the University of San Diego. A Steve Lavin he knows well since the latter coached Earl Watson when the latter was at UCLA.
