Final Verdict: Yes
Call me a sucker for former Suns greats if you must, but there’s no valid argument for keeping Shawn Marion out of the Hall of Fame based on the precedents that have already been established.
The Hall of Fame has done a better job in recent years, but it’s still not perfect. Just last year, Alonzo Mourning and Mitch Richmond were inducted, while guys like Kevin Johnson and Tim Hardaway continue to wait.
Marion joins Vince Carter and Tracy McGrady as terrific players from the early 2000s who never climbed as high as we thought they could, but still achieved quite a bit and deserve to get in one day. Though he was never a top scorer, Marion is a Hall of Famer by his qualifications in nearly every other statistical category. His HOF case is unconventional, but no less deserving.
The Matrix didn’t bring a banner to the Valley, but he got a much-deserved ring eventually and if not for a few unfortunate playoff breaks, who knows what he and the Suns could’ve accomplished?
"“I was able to grow as a player and watch the city grow at the same time,” Marion told Paul Coro. “I really wish I could’ve won a title in Phoenix. When you spend that much time with an organization and do what I did there, you feel like it’s a part of you. The fans there know I came to play and laid it on the line. “It was a special time. Those were special fans in Phoenix. It’ll always have a part of me.”"
Maybe I’m biased, but isn’t a player who had that kind of attitude and winning mentality about his prime the kind of guy who deserves the Hall of Fame? Especially when that same player is the Suns’ all-time leader in total win shares, not to mention second in minutes, rebounds and steals, third in blocks, fourth in points and fifth in PER?
A player who accomplished all that for the NBA’s fourth winningest franchise deserves the Suns Ring of Honor, there’s no doubt about that. But even though he’ll have to wait quite awhile, the day should come with Shawn Marion also earns his place in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.
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