Suns hire Morgan Cato as assistant GM, VP of basketball ops

On Monday, ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski broke news that the Phoenix Suns would hire Morgan Cato away from the NBA’s league offices for a high-ranking position in the team’s front office — assistant general manager and vice president of basketball operations.

In the story, Woj details exactly what Cato’s responsibilities will look like under general manager James Jones:

Cato — who’ll also become the first woman of color to hold the title of assistant GM — will report to GM James Jones and work with coach Monty Williams on several fronts, including the leadership and strategy related to coaching development, player engagement and front-office personnel operations, sources said.

Cato comes from an illustrious background, including lots of emphasis in human resources, a department that the organization has reportedly been lacking in.

• 2000 - 2005 — Stony Brook University graduate, B.S. in business management, Masters in human resource management
• Dec. 2014 - Dec. 2016 — NBA human resources, senior manager of early career development
• Jan. 2017 - Dec. 2018 — NBA league operations, director of business operations
• Jan. 2019 - Dec. 2020 — NBA league operations, senior director of business operations
• Dec. 2020 - Jun. 2022 — NBA league operations, associate vice president of business operations

It’s still a little tough to assess what hires like this mean when there’s still the NBA’s investigation into Suns owner Robert Sarver looming over everything, though it seems like Cato has all the credibility in the world to earn a position like this, whether Sarver remains in control or not.