Valley Suns coach John Little reflects on the team’s hard-fought 123-118 victory over the Rio Grande Valley Vipers on March 11, 2025. (Photo by Jimmy Van Wickler/Cronkite News)
TEMPE – From his hometown in Peoria, Illinois all the way to Tempe, John Little has been all over the map in his basketball career, building his way into his position as coach of the G-League Valley Suns.
Under Little’s guidance, the Suns have clinched a playoff spot with a 20-14 regular season record, securing the fifth seed in the Western Conference as they await their first-round matchup.
But long before Valley’s inaugural season, Little’s love for the game began in Peoria, Illinois – a hotbed for basketball talent – where he grew up loving the high school basketball scene. Watching the rich basketball history of Illinois with players like A.J. Guyton, Frank Williams and Marcus Griffin, Little’s love for the game of basketball only grew stronger.
“Growing up being able to see guys that went on to be great college players and pros was really inspiring for me,” Little said. “It is kind of what you dig growing up in Peoria.”
After graduating from Richwoods High School, Little played for the University of Northern Iowa from 2002 to 2006. He played for Greg McDermott, who now is the coach at Creighton University. Little was a part of a three-year stretch from 2004 to 2006 when Northern Iowa made the NCAA Men’s Tournament. That time also involved the basketball program’s first Missouri Valley Conference Tournament championship in 2004.
Little shot 40.3% from beyond the arc during his four years at Northern Iowa and ranks in the program’s top 10 all-time in three-point shooting percentage. Little was not just effective on offense but also took a lot of responsibility on defense.
“(Little) always guarded the other team’s best player and that was a role that we called him ‘J-Lit’ back in the day,” McDermott said. “(Little) didn’t have many bad days and he always had his teammates’ back, and you know he was one of those players that if you needed him, you knew you could count on him.”
With a degree in non-profit youth administration in hand, Little went on to play professional basketball in Germany in 2006 for the next eight years. He won a EuroChallenge championship in 2010 with BG Gottingen and a 2016 FIBA Euro Cup title with the Fraport Skyliners.
In 2017, Little returned to his alma mater as the team’s video coordinator.
In 2019, Little joined the Wisconsin Herd, the G League affiliate of the Milwaukee Bucks, as an assistant coach. The experience led him to connections with Blaine Mueller and Phoenix Suns coach Mike Budenholzer, who would be important in his coaching career.
Mueller was a video coordinator for the Bucks until he got promoted to assistant coach in the 2022-2023 season. In 2023, Mueller became the coach of the Maine Cetics and hired Little to be the Celtics’ associate head coach for the 2023-2024 season.
“(Little’s) player development work is such a huge piece of the G League, ” Mueller said. “He was assigned and tasked with JD Davison’s development last year and made a huge jump over the season.”
Davison, who plays point guard for the Celtics, currently averages 25.1 points, 5.2 rebounds and 7.4 assists per game in the 2024-2025 regular season.
Before Little worked with him, Davison averaged 12.5 points, 4.2 rebounds and 8.7 assists per game in the 2022-2023 regular season. The next year, when Little was the associate head coach, Davison’s points average jumped from 12.5 to 20.8 while still averaging 5.4 rebounds and 8.6 assists per game in the 2023-2024 regular season.
Mueller’s Celtics went 21-13 last year and were second in the Eastern Conference. The Celtics made it to the finals but came up short, losing a best-of-three series to the Oklahoma City Blue, before he joined the staff of the Charlotte Hornets after the season.
But while he’s focused on helping the Hornets climb out of the basement of the Eastern Conference standings, Muller still has an eye on Little’s success in his first year.
“(I’m) excited to see them finish out the season,” Mueller said. “Hopefully (they) not only get a playoff spot but hopefully a home game or two.”