7soL Triumverate finally now all Champions

For three-and-a-half seasons from 2004-2008, Suns fans had hoped that the ultra-dynamic core of Steve Nash, Shawn Marion, and Amar’e Stoudemire would win a title in Phoenix.

Alas, it was not to be.

However, since their departures from the Suns, they each have found a way to earn a Championship ring in one manner or another, and at least these three superstar players will now move slowly toward their twilight years knowing that they were, in one way or another, at the top of the basketball world.

When the Suns traded Shawn Marion to the Miami Heat for Shaquille O’Neal in 2008, it seemed as if his quest for a title might have ended right there. He would appear in only 58 games with the Heat before a trade to the Toronto Raptors in 2009. Then less than a year later, he would be dealt once again to the Dallas Mavericks.

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For a player who had been a centerpiece in Phoenix for the prior eight and a half seasons, suddenly Shawn Marion found himself on his fourth team in less than two years.

Fortunately for him, that trade to the Lone Star state would put him in a starting lineup with prime Dirk Nowitzki and veteran star Jason Kidd, and in 2011, his second season in Dallas, Marion became the first former Seven Seconds or Less player to win a title.

For several years following, Marion was the only former core player of the 7soL Suns to earn a Championship ring, and in fact, it seemed as if he might end up alone in that category. The Suns would eventually make one more run at the NBA mountaintop themselves in 2010 with Steve Nash and Amar’e Stoudemire, only to fall short in the Western Conference Finals.

That offseason STAT would be allowed to walk to New York as a free agent, and two years later, Nash was traded to the Los Angeles Lakers, the very team that had eliminated the Suns last.

Nash seemed to be the final piece in a super team when he was grouped with Kobe Bryant and Dwight Howard, only to have injuries and team dysfunction end that dream, nearly before it started. Nash would basically retire in 2014 (although it was not official until 2015) when his back finally demanded of him to do so. He would add his name to the list of superstars would would end their playing career’s without a ring, arguably becoming the greatest point guard of all-time to never add a Championship to his resume.

When the Golden State Warriors super team formed organically, Leandro Barbosa managed to hitch a ride and in 2015 became the second member of the former 7soL core to win a ring – defeating the Cleveland Cavaliers, and Shawn Marion who had signed with the Cavs in hopes of winning once more before his own retirement.

Following their first title run, the Warriors hired Nash as a part-time player consultant, a position that would earn him a ring as a member of the staff should the Warriors win again.

It took two tries, but after Kevin Durant decided to take his talents to the Bay it was inevitable, and in 2017, Nash finally got his Championship win as well.

Although he never got to earn the ring with his play on the court, the accomplishment is no less real, and this fall when the Warriors are presented with their 2017 NBA Championship bling, Nash too will finally be able to slide one over his finger.

That then left Amar’e Stoudemire as the last remaining Seven Seconds or Less core player without a title – until yesterday.

In 2013, after several years of internal discovery about his personal Jewish heritage, Stoudemire joined a group that purchased Hapoel Jerusalem Basketball Club of the Israeli Premiere League, a franchise known at least by one Jewish reporter as a “perennial underachiever.”

Then in 2016, STAT joined the club on the court, after officially retiring from the NBA (although he apparently had wanted to return to the Suns one last time), and in his first, and last, full season with the club, won the Isreali Championship.

Not an NBA title, but a professional Championship nonetheless.

And now the triumvirate has each completed their individual journey’s to the mountain top.

Following his win yesterday, Amar’e Stoudemire announced that he would not be returning to Hapoel and has announced he will enter full basketball retirement.

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Should he return to the NBA in some capacity, it would be nice to see STAT win an NBA Championship ring at some point as well. Although even if he does not, he at least now a title to his name now as well as the others, and the ghosts of the combined failed Seven Seconds or Less Suns core can now finally rest eternally in peace.

Maybe now it’s Mike D’Antoni’s turn.