Suns lay off employees in restructuring, team says

The Phoenix Suns have confirmed laying off an unspecified number of employees.

“We’ve been working on restructuring a number of departments since early this year,” Suns Chief Marketing and Communications Officer, Dean Stoyer, told

in confirming the layoffs. “We found that some of the roles were redundant, some roles were outdated and there were some roles impacted for performance reasons.”

Stoyer wouldn’t confirm the number of layoffs.

However, sources told close to 30 employees were laid off Monday.

The site

Wednesday employees.

“We are in the process now of posting new positions to hire to address new responsibilities,” Stoyer said.

The layoffs come amid other cuts the franchise has made.

The Suns announced Wednesday the sports360az.com reported the team let go of 30 sale of their G League team, Northern Arizona Suns, and they no longer have assistant coaches Steve Blake and Larry Greer on Phoenix’s coaching staff.

The moves come as the Suns are spending on facilities while facing lost revenue after the season was put on pause in March.

The Suns are contributing $80 million to the $230 million cost of renovating Talking Stick Resort Arena and spending at least $45 million on the new practice facility that Suns officials told will be completed by early September. Those investments are taking place as revenue look a hit by not having fans at home games after the season was temporarily shut down March 11 after Utah Jazz center Rudy Gobert tested positive for coronavirus.

Stoyer, however, said those combination of factors were “completely unrelated” to the staff shakeup.

“Companies evaluate their makeup all the time, evaluate personnel, “Stoyer said. “Changes are necessary over time and we were due.”

Stoyer separately told

that COVID-19 “was not a factor” in the cuts.