Devin Booker, Phoenix Suns
Mar 4, 2018; Atlanta, GA, USA; Phoenix Suns guard Devin Booker (1) makes a move against Atlanta Hawks guard Tyler Dorsey (2) during the first quarter at Philips Arena. USA TODAY Sports / Jason Getz

The Phoenix Suns (19-53) have begun their search for a new head coach, according to a report. The Suns, who own the worst record in the NBA, fired Earl Watson and appointed Jay Triano as interim head coach in October.

When associate Triano took charge of the team, it was understood that the Suns would find a new head coach before the end of the 2017-18 season. However, the Suns front office re-focussed its focus to the 2018-19 season. Despite another losing season, the Suns will enter the next with a promising core of Devin Booker, Josh Jackson, Dragan Bender and Marquese Chriss, besides a potential Top-5 draft at this year's NBA Draft.

According to ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski, the Suns intend to interview coaching candidates before the offseason. "In a coaching market that could be expansive with openings this spring, the Suns want to get a start on connecting with available candidates now and leap into the rest of the coaching market in mid-April when the regular season ends," Wojnarowski wrote in a report published Thursday (Friday AEDT).

Besides the Suns, the Memphis Grizzlies and Milwaukee Bucks are two other teams in need of a new head coach entering the 2018-19 NBA season. Ryan McDonough, general manager of the Suns, acknowledged that the team intends to be aggressive in pursuit of its next head coach.

"This is going to be a competitive marketplace. There are three of us (Phoenix, Milwaukee and Memphis) with interim coaches in place, and we want to be able to hit the ground running. We don't want to have to wait until the end of the regular season for candidates who aren't with teams now. At the end of the regular season, we'll be able to talk with coaches on non-playoff teams and we'll need to work with playoff teams on what their approach will be on contacting (assistant) coaches still in the postseason," McDonough told ESPN.

Earl Watson was fired just three games into the new season, a year after the Suns finished with a 24-58 record. Triano, who was associate head coach under Watson, went 87-142 in his three seasons as head coach of the Toronto Raptors between 2008 and 2011.