Phoenix Suns adding Toronto Raptors assistant Patrick Mutombo to coaching staff

Raptors assistant Patrick Mutombo is joining the Phoenix Suns coaching staff, the Republic confirmed Tuesday afternoon through multiple sources.

ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski first tweeted the news earlier Tuesday.

The Suns still have everyone on Monty Williams' coaching staff, but there may be role shifts within it. Winning an NBA title as an assistant in Toronto in 2019, Mutombo is expected to be a bench coach for the Suns as he served that role with the Raptors under Nick Nurse.

Mutombo was also head coach of Raptors 905, Toronto's G League team. Raptors 905 finished the 2021-22 regular season with an G League best 24-8 record.

"Coaching, I always say, gives you a platform to really impact lives," Mutombo said in a National Basketball Coaches Association video in 2019. "The interaction that we have with these young men, it's such a good opportunity to make a difference in somebody's life."

And no, he's not related to Hall of Famer Dikembe Mutombo, 55, even though they're both from the Republic of Congo.

Patrick Mutombo was born in Kinshasa where Muhammad Ali regained the heavyweight championship of the world in 1974 by knocking out George Foreman in the epic "Rumble In The Jungle."

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Living in Africa for 13 years, Patrick Mutombo moved to Belgium and then to the United States at age 19. He played college ball for Metropolitan State University of Denver where he won two NCAA Division II national championships.

Inducted into the school's athletic hall of fame in 2011, Patrick Mutombo, 42, played overseas in Italy and Greece. He also played in the D League, which is now the G League, but isn't related to 7-foot-2 Dikembe Mutombo.

“I am not related to Dik,” Patrick Mutombo said in an Andscape story in 2019 that takes a deep dive into his love for painting.

Mutombo recalls always having a love for art as early as his childhood days in Africa that has grown over the years.

"I fell in love with the smell of oil paint," Mutombo said in the NBCA video. "Fast forward I'm playing in Greece and I'm totally miserable. One day I'm walking back home from practice and I'm so angry, I'm not driving. I'm walking back home and I stumble into this art gallery and I become friends with the owner. So we developed a relationship and I asked if he could help me. I had this desire to paint. Not quite sure how to do it."

Mutombo developed a passion for it that led to little sleep and a lot of painting.

"I would finish around five o'clock in the morning," he continued. "Sleep for about three hours, eat breakfast, go to my first practice, come back, take my work, my painting. show it to him. He would critique it. I'd come home, take a nap, eat, somewhere in there and eat, go to practice, come back and repeat."

Mutombo's coaching ability has been well documented as well.

Considered a polished coach, Mutombo coached four seasons in Denver as he was in player development first before working three years as an assistant under Michael Malone, who was an assistant under Williams in New Orleans.

Mutombo then spent one season as an assistant with the G League's Austin Spurs before joining the Raptors before the 2016-17 season as Dwane Casey was the head coach.

Nurse replaced Casey before the 2018-19 season as Casey was later hired by Detroit. Nurse coached the Raptors to the 2019 NBA title with Mutombo as an assistant.

Mutombo did player development and scouting during his time in Toronto, but his work as a head coach for Raptors 905 gave him a more complete experience as a coach.

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Ridiculous Upside, a site that religiously covers the G League, picked Mutombo as its G League coach of the year for the 2021 season as 905 finished atop the standings at 12-3 to end the regular season after a 4-3 start.

"That ability to get a group of strangers that had only started playing with each other a few weeks prior to make a full 180-degree turn and buy in is a testament to the tremendous work that Patrick did as the team’s head coach," wrote Dakota Schmidt.

Warriors guard Gary Payton II starred for 905 as he was the G League's Defensive Player of the Year that season.

Celtics guard Nik Stauskas, who is from Mississauga, Ontario, also starred for Raptors 905.

Golden State and Boston are battling in this year's NBA Finals with the Warriors taking a 3-2 series lead after Monday's 104-94 Game 5 win.

Game 6 is Thursday in Boston.

If the Celtics win, a decisive Game 7 will be Sunday in San Francisco.

Have opinion about current state of the Suns? Reach Suns Insider Duane Rankin at dmrankin@gannett.com or contact him at 480-787-1240. Follow him on Twitter at @DuaneRankin.

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This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Phoenix Suns adding Toronto Raptors assistant Patrick Mutombo to staff