The Phoenix Suns have a long and exciting history in the NBA. Here are the 30 best players to ever play for the Suns franchise.
Many NBA franchises can claim a rich and exciting past, which is part of the allure of the NBA to fans young and old. Many teams can trace their history back for decades, seeing the highs and lows, the triumphs and failures. While many things have changed, the game’s similarity across eras makes it easy to connect to the past and compare players across time.
The Phoenix Suns were founded in 1969 as an expansion team. They have won at a clip higher than most other franchises, as the team has sustained periods of success that extend longer than expected. After making the playoffs eight-straight seasons in the 1970s and 1980s, the team would make 13-straight postseason trips starting in 1988-89.
The stars to pass through town are numerous, from fan favorites such as Dick Van Arsdale, to NBA MVP winners in Steve Nash and Charles Barkley. A number of Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame players suited up for the Suns. Some were in their prime, while others were not. The history of the Suns does not include an NBA title, but it does include plenty of players that were certainly capable of winning one.
Evaluating who the greatest players are is a difficult task, and often is dependent on one’s methodology and the tools at their disposal. This list of the franchise’s 30 greatest players seeks to strike a middle road between longevity and peak. However, it does lean towards celebrating the very best years, even if their time in Phoenix was not as long.
We begin our trip through the Suns’ past right here in the present, with a player seeking to make his mark on the history of Suns basketball.
Devin Booker‘s presence on this list may shock some. It may anger others. This was the most difficult decision to make, but ultimately Booker has a few things on his résumé that suggest he should make the cut.
This season, his fourth in the league, Booker is putting up lofty per-game numbers. 25.4 points, 7.1 assists and 3.8 rebounds per game are numbers no other Suns player has put up over the course of a full season. There have been just 39 player-seasons to hit those numbers across all franchises. Only LeBron James did so at a younger age than Booker.
Since the Suns drafted him 13th overall in the 2015 NBA Draft he has been racking up points at astronomical rates, despite his young age. Booker was the fourth-youngest to 3,000 career points, the youngest to break 60 points (he put up 70), the third-youngest to 4,000 career points — on and on.
Yet, the Suns have been abysmal during his time on the team. He has around eight career win shares — a number 22 Suns players have cleared in a single season. While he is an offensively special player, his defensive limitations and the talent around him have prevented him from elevating the team to anything resembling quality. To rise up this list, Booker will need to make a leap. Hopefully the team will as well.
Few players in NBA history accomplished as much as Grant Hill did through his early 20s. He won two NCAA titles with the Duke Blue Devils, a gold medal with the US Men’s National Team in 1996 and had six stellar seasons with the Detroit Pistons. But then injuries struck and he played only 57 games over the next four seasons, never again reaching the same heights.
By his 13th season, he had managed his injuries to the point he could play full seasons again. He joined the Suns as an unrestricted free agent in 2007. Hill was a respected part of NBA culture and was immediately named a co-captain along with point guard Steve Nash.
The forward was skilled in a multitude of ways, with the size, strength and craft to play down low and the skill to play on the perimeter. He could pass, he could rebound and he could score. While he wasn’t the same level of athlete as he was in his younger days, the up-tempo system in Phoenix played well to his strengths.
In 2010, Hill and the Suns advanced to the Western Conference Finals, along the way notching Hill his first career playoff series victory. The following season he averaged 13 points per game at age 38. He was one of only a handful of players to do so at that age or older.
In all, Hill played five full seasons with the Suns, putting up 22.6 win shares overall. Hill entered the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame with the Class of 2018, alongside other Suns standouts in Nash and point guard Jason Kidd.
Most of the players on this list fit one of two groups. They are either high-end starters who played multiple seasons on the Suns, or they are rotation players who played a long time with Phoenix. Jared Dudley fits into the second category.
Never a star, Dudley is best described as a “glue guy” at every stop of his career. He was a solid role player on the Suns from 2008 to 2013, where he never put up more than the 12.7 points per game he reached in 2012, a career high.
Yet, teams tend to play better when Dudley was around. He was part of a culture change on the 2015 Milwaukee Bucks. With Milwaukee, he became the first player in NBA history to shoot 100 percent from the field, while attempting at least 10 shots and hitting at least 3 triples in a game.
He was a part of strong bench units with the Los Angeles Clippers and the Washington Wizards as well. In 2018-19, Dudley has helped a Brooklyn Nets team turn things around and make their first honest postseason push in years.
Dudley is a consummate professional, one with a healthy dose of self-awareness and an upbeat personality. In the locker room, he mixes levity with accountability. At every stop, Dudley has been praised for his veteran presence on the rosters. He received a solid contract from Phoenix to return in 2016, signifying how much they valued his presence.
In all, Dudley racked up 25.4 win shares with the Suns, a number that ranks 19th all-time in franchise history. Never an All-Star or an All-Defense member, he has been a positive contributor for the Suns for a number of seasons and deserves a spot on this list.
Seeing Shaquille O’Neal’s name this far down a list of basketball players of any kind seems wrong, somehow. He is a consensus top-10 player in NBA history, with four titles and an MVP award to his name. Yet, he spent fewer years in Phoenix than he has nicknames, making his impact for the Suns rather slight.
After O’Neal teamed up with Dwyane Wade to win a title in 2006 with the Miami Heat, the team slowly fell off. By 2008, Miami was the worst squad in the league. That February, the Heat traded O’Neal to the Suns in exchange for Shawn Marion and Marcus Banks.
Despite being 36 years old, he averaged a double-double for the Suns, The 2007-08 Suns made the Western Conference Playoffs, but lost in five games to the San Antonio Spurs.
O’Neal averaged 18 points per game through the first half of 2008-09, making what would be his final NBA All-Star Game. He made theAll-NBA Third Team, but the Suns were unable to make the postseason in a loaded Western Conference.
They finished with 46 wins — two shy of the eighth-place Utah Jazz. Those 46 wins would have been good enough for fifth place in the Eastern Conference.
In total, O’Neal logged 103 games for the Suns. He brought his typical efficient scoring and rebounding, but unable to reach the heights of his prime. After the 2008-09 season, he was traded to the Cleveland Cavaliers.
While O’Neal is often remembered as a member of the Los Angeles Lakers, his time spent with the Orlando Magic, the Heat and the Suns represent strong periods of play for “The Big Aristotle”.
The 6-foot-7 Leonard Robinson was known exclusively as “Truck” Robinson for the duration of his NBA career. The rugged front-court player played both forward positions throughout his career. During that time, Robinson was one of the best rebounders in the league during his prime.
After time with the then-Washington Bullets and the Atlanta Hawks early in his career, Robinson signed with the then-New Orleans Jazz and had his best season. He earned All-NBA First Team honors while leading the league in rebounding in 1978. The following year, a deep Suns team traded players and two first-round picks for Robinson to bolster their playoff run.
While the Suns lost in the Western Conference Finals in seven games to the eventual champion in the then-Seattle SuperSonics, Robinson was a solid contributor to the team. He would play three more seasons in Phoenix, never putting up the dominant statistics of his time further east, but always averaging at least 16 points per game.
Robinson would make an All-Star team one time with the Suns in 1981. He led the team in scoring and rebounding in 1981, as they won 57 games, the most in the Western Conference. Phoenix never once missed the postseason while Robinson was with the team. While never a bona fide superstar, Robinson excelled in his role and was a part of a strong run of Phoenix basketball.
Don Buse was a college star in the early 1970s playing for Evansville College. He won the 1971 Division-II title and was selected for the USA Men’s Basketball Team. This was back in the days when professional players were not eligible to play for the national team. Rather than play in the Olympics, he signed a professional contract with the ABA’s Indiana Pacers.
With Indiana, he developed into a top-tier point guard, leading the league in steals and assists in 1976. The next season, Indiana joined the NBA. Buse led a much larger pool of players in those same numbers and made his only NBA All-Star team. Prior to the 1977-78 season, he was traded to Phoenix, where he instantly became a part of their run at contention.
On one of the Suns’ most loaded rosters in its history, Buse started at point guard and was a part of playoff teams every year. He was named to the All-Defensive First Team all three seasons he spent in Phoenix. Buse was arguably the best backcourt defender in the league during that stretch.
Because Buse played on teams with high-usage offensive stars, he never accrued the counting stats of many of his compatriots. Win shares undervalue his contributions as well, as his best single-season number is 6.0. He totaled 16 in all three years with Phoenix combined.
However, the Suns were in the mix for the title all three years he was there. Buse was a solid, if unspectacular, part of their success in the late 1970s.
As is the case with many wing defenders, Raja Bell made his way around the league to play for a total of six franchises. Yet to limit Bell as a journeyman player would be to undersell his impact on the court. Few wing defenders, if any, played to the level of Bell — including his time with the Suns.
As an undrafted free agent, Bell began his NBA career with the Philadelphia 76ers, making an impact during their run to the 2001 NBA Finals. He later played for the Dallas Mavericks and the Utah Jazz, breaking double-digit scoring for the first time in 2005. The led to a free agent contract with the Suns, where he would truly blossom.
In 2005-06, Bell played a career-high 37.5 points per game alongside Steve Nash in the Suns backcourt, serving at the lockdown defender alongside the more offensively accomplished player in Nash. He greatly benefited from the shots Nash created for him, hitting 44.2 percent of his 3-pointers on the year.
Bell’s role was to guard the opposing team’s best wing scorer. No one fit that bill better than Kobe Bryant. Bell generated a level of notoriety in the 2006 NBA Playoffs when he effectively clotheslined Bryant in the closing seconds of a game.
Bell intimated it was Bryant who had instigated the moment by hitting Bell in the face. However, Bell was suspended and made public enemy No. 1 for the Lakers and their fans.
Bell continued his strong play as a 3-and-D wing for the next two seasons as well. In 2006-07, Bell led the league in 3-point shooting, hitting 205 triples in the Suns’ fast-paced offense. While his strength was as a defender, his efficient shooting from outside helped him rate out as an excellent offensive player in many metrics.
By the end of his three seasons on the team, Bell totaled 17.9 win shares. This a number that struggles to quantify his impact as a lockdown defender and a low-usage offensive piece. The league understood, however, and Bell made two All-Defense teams while with the Suns.
One of the most prolific rim protectors of the 1980s and 9190s, Mark West played two different stints with the Suns. The 6-foot-10 center played his college career at the underrated Old Dominion University, twice leading the nation in blocks. The super-swatting continued in the NBA, where he played for the Dallas Mavericks, the Milwaukee Bucks and the Cleveland Cavaliers early in his career.
In February of 1988, he was a part of a borderline-blockbuster trade, when Cleveland sent a package including West, Kevin Johnson and the pick that would become Dan Majerle to the Phoenix Suns. The heart of that package was, along with Charles Barkley, the core of strong Western Conference contenders in the early 1990s.
West played six-and-a-half seasons for Phoenix in his first time there, appearing in every single available game. A low-usage player on offense, West was an efficient finisher, even leading the league in field goal percentage in 1990. West started all 24 games of the Suns’ run to the NBA Finals in 1993, where they lost to Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls in six games.
By the end of his career, West returned to the Suns for one last run, playing 22 games during the 1999-00 season. He ranks 41st in NBA history in career blocks, second to Larry Nance in Suns franchise history.
Among players with at least a full season in Phoenix, he is second to Tyson Chandler in career field goal percentage. West’s 30.7 career win shares rank 16th all-time among Suns players.
Some players are important not specifically for what they do on the court, but for the trails they blaze. Charlie Scott was one such player, who broke racial barriers during his time playing basketball.
Growing up in Harlem, Scott was embedded in the civil rights movement from a young age. A talented player early in life, he became a legend at the famed Rucker Park. Scott became the first black scholarship in the history of the University of North Carolina, playing there from 1968 to 1972.
He was a dominant athlete in college, leading the Tar Heels to two Final Fours and making two All-American teams. In 1968, he helped the United States win the gold medal at the Summer Olympics in Mexico City.
Originally drafted by the Boston Celtics, Scott instead signed a contract to play with the Virginia Squires in the ABA. In 1972, he made the jump to the NBA. Phoenix traded Paul Silas to the Celtics for his rights. In all, Scott played three seasons for the Suns, making the All-Star team in all three seasons. Only seven players have made more for the Suns.
Scott’s best skill was scoring the basketball, and he did that with aplomb for Phoenix. He averaged 24.8 points per game in his three-plus seasons. This was somewhat of an outlier for point guards in that time, who often focused on defense and facilitating offenses than doing the scoring themselves. That paved the way to those All-Star selections.
In 1975, the Suns traded Scott back to the Celtics in exchange for Paul Westphal. The next year, those two teams would meet in the NBA Finals, a series that featured “the greatest game ever played” in a triple-overtime Game 5 matchup. Silas, Scott and Westphal all played key parts in the series. Boston won the series 4-2, behind 25 points and 11 rebounds from Scott.
No player has averaged more points per game during their Phoenix tenure than Scott at 24.8 per contest. Even so, his scoring seemed to amount in some ways to empty calories, as defensively he often gave up many points as well.
Win shares specifically looked poorly upon his time on the Suns, as he never put up more than 6.5 in a season. He finished with 15.2 in just over three years. Scott’s biggest contribution to the Suns however may be the trade for Westphal, who will show up much later on this list.
The tale of Goran Dragic and the Suns is the tale of two very different unions. Dragic first joined the Suns in 2008, after Phoenix traded with the San Antonio Spurs for his draft rights. He was billed as the heir apparent to franchise icon Steve Nash, serving as his backup for two-and-a-half seasons.
His crowning moment with the Suns came in Game 3 of the 2010 Western Conference Semifinals, when Dragic erupted to lead an 18-point comeback over the same Spurs that traded his rights away. He scored 23 points in the fourth quarter, including five-for-five from deep, to give Phoenix the victory and a 3-0 series lead.
By the middle of the next season, the Suns were looking for a change at the position and moved him to the Houston Rockets. After one-and-a-half seasons in Houston as the backup to Kyle Lowry, he returned to Phoenix in free agency, this time as the official replacement to Nash.
After strong play on an otherwise middling Phoenix team, the Suns shocked the league in 2013-14. The team was expected to tank, but won 48 games and missed the playoffs by a whisker.
Dragic averaged 20.3 points and 5.9 assists per game, shooting over 40 percent from deep. Named to the All-NBA Third Team, he accrued 10.3 win shares — one of just 12 Suns to hit that mark in a single season.
The following season, the Suns’ chemistry fell apart. Dragic requested a trade from a team he felt was marginalizing him for the two younger point guards on the roster in Eric Bledsoe and Isaiah Thomas. He and his brother Zoran Dragic were traded to the Miami Heat, where he has played ever since.
While he was never able to reach the true pinnacle of success with the Suns, he did go out on top in international play. Pairing with teenage phenom Luca Doncic, Slovenia won EuroBasket 2017, where Dragic was named MVP of the tournament.
A relatively unheralded prospect coming into the NBA Draft, Clifford Robinson was selected in the second round by the Portland Trail Blazers. After working his way from the end-of-the-bench to NBA Sixth Man of the Year, to consistent starter, to NBA All-Star in Portland, the swing forward signed a free agent contract with the Suns in 1997.
After the heights of the Charles Barkley era in the early-to-mid-1990’s, the Suns of the next decade were up-and-down in their success. In 1997-98, Robinson’s first year with the team, they leapt from a .500 team to 56 wins. The Suns easily made the playoffs, but lost in the first round to the San Antonio Spurs. This was the beginning of a bitter battle between the two franchises.
Robinson played four seasons altogether in the desert. Those teams featured young point guard Jason Kidd running something akin to an egalitarian offense. Robinson was one of four players who averaged between 13.5 and 16.9 points per game in 1997-98. The following year, he was one of three to average between 16.4 and 17.0 points per contest.
Throughout his prime in Portland and Phoenix, Robinson was a talented scorer who never hogged the ball. His teams tended to play better when he was on the court. Even at age 34, his final season in Phoenix, he had a positive Box Plus-Minus.
The following offseason, he was traded to the Detroit Pistons. Robinson would end up bouncing around the league as a veteran player, extending his career until he was 40 years old.
Robinson never made an All-Star team while with the Suns ,nor received any season’s end awards. Yet while with the Suns, he made positive contributions every single season. In just four seasons, Robinson racked up 27.4 win shares for the club, 18th all-time in Suns franchise history.
One of the league’s most polarizing and captivating personalities, Stephon Marbury made his way through Phoenix as part of an eclectic career. It ended with major success in Beijing, where Marbury won three titles playing in China. In the NBA, however, his seasons tended to end much sooner.
The point guard was an immensely talented player, but tended to clash with his teammates and coaches at every stop. He began his NBA career with the Minnesota Timberwolves. Marbury was paired with Kevin Garnett for a couple of playoff runs, but friction led to a trade demand and a subsequent deal to the then-New Jersey Nets.
In New Jersey, Marbury made his first NBA All-Star team. Again, his time with a team was short. In 2001, he was traded to the Suns as part of a package for Jason Kidd. Marbury would man the point in between the Kidd and Nash eras in Phoenix.
The metrics support the fact that swing forward Shawn Marion was the team’s best player during Marbury’s tenure, but there is no question that Marbury was the team’s biggest star. He made the NBA All-Star team in 2003.
By season’s end, his line of 22.3 points and 8.1 assists per game were enough to earn him All-NBA honors as well. The Suns made the postseason, but were knocked out in the first round by the San Antonio Spurs.
Marbury’s best years happened in Phoenix. There is not the sour taste he left behind at other NBA stops. Yet when the opportunity came to sign Nash in free agency, the Suns moved Marbury to the New York Knicks to clear salary. Being in New York boosted Marbury’s brand, but it may have killed his NBA career. His best days remained behind him from there.
One of the most exciting international players to ever suit up for an NBA team, Leandro Barbosa became a fan favorite in Phoenix for his blazing speed and acrobatic finishes.
Nicknamed the “Brazilian Blur”, he made an immediate impact as a rookie, setting Suns franchise records for points in his first career start and consecutive games with a 3-pointer — the latter since shattered many times over.
After that first season, Barbosa was moved to a bench role where he thrived for the next six seasons in the team’s up-tempo offense. Barbosa was enough of a ball-handler to run the offense himself occasionally. Other times, he played alongside Steve Nash or other point guards as the 2-guard.
Despite coming off the bench, Barbosa was able to put up solid point totals, averaging 18.1 points per game in 2006-07, despite starting just 18 of his 80 games. For that feat, he was awarded the NBA’s Sixth Man of the Year award. In all, Barbosa averaged double-digit scoring in four of his six seasons off the bench with the Suns.
While his minutes were not consistent and the bench units he played with waxed and waned, Barbosa’s offensive contributions were always solid. He put up 8.2 win shares in his award-winning 2006-07 season. In total, he amassed 28.4 win shares over his entire Suns career.
In the 2010 offseason, Barbosa was traded to the Toronto Raptors in a deal for forward Hedo Turkoglu, setting off six team changes in seven years for the guard. Yet even with all the movement, Barbosa brought the same game-changing speed to every stop.
In 2014, his former Suns general manager Steve Kerr brought Barbosa in to join the Golden State Warriors as a veteran off the bench. He helped bring the Warriors an NBA Champions in 2014-15.
In 2016-17, he joined the Suns one last time for his final NBA season, averaging 6.3 points in 14.4 minutes per game. He then returned to his native Brazil where he still suits up for Minas Tênis Clube. Barbosa ended his Suns career with 28.4 win shares and was the franchise’s fourth Sixth Man of the Year award winner.
Many NBA fans will remember Paul Silas as a respected, yet largely mediocre head coach. Silas would go on to lead the then-San Diego Clippers, the Charlotte/New Orleans Hornets, the Cleveland Cavaliers and the then-Charlotte Bobcats after his playing days. Yet before he was pacing the sideline, he was on the court gobbling up rebounds as a power forward.
Silas played 16 seasons in the NBA, twice making the NBA All-Star team and being named an All-Defense member five separate times. Making his debut in 1964, Silas played for the then-St. Louis Hawks during their final years in Missouri and their first in Atlanta. He was never much more than a rebounding role player while with the Hawks.
In 1969, things began to trend upwards for Silas. He was traded that spring to the Suns, an expansion franchise in its second season. Phoenix did not waste time ramping up, reaching 48 wins in their third season and 49 in their fourth behind Silas, Connie Hawkins and Dick Van Arsdale.
By that fourth season, Silas’ third with the team, he had cultivated an offensive game to go along with the defense and rebounding. He led the Suns in win shares and earned his first All-Star nod.
Silas made the All-Defensive Second Team in both 1971 and 1972, averaging 12.2 rebounds per game. Keep in mind that blocks were not yet recorded league-wide.
Yet Phoenix, in a period of change in 1972, moved him to the Boston Celtics for coveted rookie Charlie Scott. Silas would go on to win two rings with the Celtics in 1974 and 1976, the latter coming against the Suns in the NBA Finals.
The NBA in the 1980s was a time of glitz and glamour. The “Showtime” Lakers were emerging on the West Coast and the Boston Celtics were putting together yet another dynasty on the East Coast.
With the NBA-ABA merger firmly in the rearview mirror, the high-flying moves of players such as David Thompson and Julius Erving were spreading throughout the league. Enter Larry Nance, a 6-foot-10 power forward who was the spiritual descendant of “Skywalker” Thompson.
Nance’s athleticism and strength made for a shocking combination around the basket. He would throw the ball down thunderously, making him a fan favorite. Drafted in 1981, Nance would play the first seven years of his career in Phoenix.
In 1984, at the NBA’s first-ever Dunk Contest, Nance competed against eight of the league’s best athletes, including Erving and Ralph Sampson. The Suns’ forward beat the field with a series of above-the-rim moves. Quoting Jeramie McPeek “Nance was nothing short of sensational. His dunks included reverse slams, wrap-around and a two-fisted reverse utilizing two basketballs.”
His victory and the ensuing excitement demanded that he have a nickname, the area of his game lacking to that point. The Suns began a “Larry Nance Nickname Contest” that ended with a creative and very unique nickname: “The High-Ayatollah of Slamola”.
In competitive basketball, Nance was tremendous as well. After becoming a full-time starter in his second year with the Suns, Nance averaged at least 16 points and eight rebounds per game every single year. He averaged over two blocks per game over that span as well.
He totaled 53.6 win shares in those seven seasons, never fewer than 7.9 per season as a starter. In 1985, he was a part of the NBA All-Star Game and not simply the dunk contest.
In February of 1988, Nance was part of a package sent by the Suns to the Cleveland Cavaliers. Phoenix received Kevin Johnson, Mark West and the pick that would become Dan Majerle (among other compensation). Those three players would play key roles in Phoenix becoming a Western Conference contender in the early 1990s.
For his part, Nance was incredible with the Cavaliers and helped them do the same in the East Conference. He left Phoenix as a beloved part of the Suns’ history.
From here on out, most of the players in the top-15 of the greatest in Suns history will be most well-known for their time in Phoenix. That being said, there will be a few exceptions. One of those will be Dennis Johnson, who like Paul Silas and Charlie Scott played in Phoenix, but won titles with the Boston Celtics.
If the Los Angeles Lakers’ Michael Cooper was the best wing defender in the 1980s, Dennis Johnson was perhaps the best guard defender in the decade. At 6-foot-4, he had the size to play either backcourt position. This allowed him to be paired with any other player and immediately guard the most dangerous guard on the opposing team.
After beginning his career with the then-Seattle SuperSonics, Johnson joined the Suns in 1980. He played three seasons in the desert. Offensively, he held his own, putting up 17.5 points per game on average over the three years. He was named to the NBA All-Star team twice while in Phoenix, coming in 1981 and 1982.
All three seasons that Johnson was on the Suns he was named to the All-Defensive First Team, part of nine-straight seasons on the All-Defensive First or Second Teams. For his career, Johnson ranks ninth in steal percentage, as his quick hands were devastating to opposing ball-handlers.
Unfortunately, Johnson frequently clashed with the coaching staff in Phoenix, including longtime head coach John MacLeod. In 1983, he was traded to the Celtics for a package of players who failed to make any real impact on the team. His tenure with the Suns was brief, but the level of excellence was sky-high.
The Suns of the mid-1980s were a rebuilding squad, a bridge between the strong teams of the 1970s and early 1980s and the dominant squads of the early 1990s. In 1986, coming off a 32-win season, the Suns used the sixth overall pick on William Bedford, a talented center who saw his career derailed by drug abuse.
They used their next two picks on Joe Ward, who never played a minute in the NBA, and Rafael Addison, who played just one season in Phoenix. It wasn’t until the second-to-last pick of the second round that the Suns landed a player who would make a major impact — Iowa State senior guard Jeff Hornacek.
Hornacek would play six seasons in Phoenix, starting as a rotation player from day one by playing 80 games his rookie season. By year three, he was a full-time starter and averaging double-digit points.
In his sixth season in 1992, he was named to the NBA All-Star team after averaging 20.1 points per game. That season he put up a whopping 11.6 win shares, a number topped by just five players in Suns history.
Perhaps one of the most important things Hornacek did for the franchise was give them the firepower to trade for All-NBA power forward Charles Barkley in 1992. It was Barkley who pushed the Suns over the hump and into the 1993 NBA Finals. Hornacek played a year-and-a-half in with the Philadelphia 76ers before being sent to the Utah Jazz, where he carved out the remainder of a fine NBA career.
After retiring, Hornacek later entered coaching, starting with Utah, but in returning to the Suns as their head coach in 2013. In December of 2013, he won NBA Coach of the Month honors, becoming the first and only player to receive that honor as both a player and a coach for the same team.
Dick Van Arsdale holds a special place in the hearts of longtime Suns fans. An Indiana native, Van Arsdale attended Indiana University alongside his identical twin brother, Tom Van Arsdale. The NBA Draft split the two up, with Dick going to the New York Knicks and Tom to the Detroit Pistons. In 1966 both were named to the All-Rookie Team.
Two seasons, later the Suns joined the NBA as an expansion team. Van Arsdale was selected in the subsequent expansion draft. He proceeded to play the next nine seasons with the Suns, the remainder of his career. He is thus affectionately known as the “Original Sun” — a claim close enough to being true.
The 6-foot-5 shooting guard was hot from the start of his Suns career, topping 21 points per game in his first three seasons. He was named to the NBA All-Star team all three seasons and the team quickly reached relevance. By 1969-70, the Suns were in the playoffs, making it to the second round. Six years, later the Suns made it to the NBA Finals, losing to the Boston Celtics in 1976.
Twice Van Arsdale topped 10 win shares in a season, including a career-high 10.4 in 1971-72. By 1973-74, he had less of an offensive role with players such as Connie Hawkins and Charlie Scott on the team. That did not stop him from making a strong impact defensively, and that season was named to the All-Defensive Second Team.
By 1976-77, Van Arsdale’s ability to impact the game had waned to the point he was more of a role player. He retired after the season. His basketball career came full circle, as his brother Tom joined him on the Suns for what was the last season for both.
Van Arsdale tallied 63.6 win shares for the Suns, the most in franchise history until Alvan Adams passed him in the mid-1980s. The impressive total still ranks seventh in franchise history, securing his place in Suns lore.
The difficulty of arranging a list of the greatest players in a team’s history is that most players are difficult to directly compare. Is an MVP candidate playing in Phoenix for five seasons more or less valuable than a solid starter playing 10? In general, this list leans on the side of excellence over longevity, which is why Alvan Adams is not higher.
That perhaps does Adams a disservice, as he is one of the most important players in the history of the franchise. No player has ever suited up for the Suns as many times as Adams, who never once played for another team in his 13-year NBA career. Adams is the franchise leader in games, minutes, rebounds and defensive win-shares.
The 6-foot-9 center did not have dominating size, but he knew how to play the center position in a way as to leverage what he did have to the greatest advantage. After dominating in college at Oklahoma, he was selected fourth overall in the 1975 NBA Draft.
Entering the league as a polished player, Adams had his best season first, averaging 19.0 points and 9.1 rebounds per game. Not only did he win NBA Rookie of the Year, but he made the NBA All-Star game as well.
Adams played the next 12 seasons as a reliable starter at the pivot for teams that were great, and teams that were not. In his rookie season, he was a part of a Suns team that made the run to the NBA Finals. In his ninth season with the team, the Suns pushed the Los Angeles Lakers in the Western Conference Finals before losing.
The highlight moment of his career is probably his improbable triple-double. On Feb. 22, 1977 Adams scored 47 points, 18 rebounds and 12 assists — not to mention five blocks! No player has ever put together that combination of statistics.
While Adams never tallied more than 7.7 win shares in a single season, his total of 73.5 is fourth all-time in Suns history. Adams clearly ranks as the best Suns player to never wear another NBA jersey.
With a first-round pick acquired in the Larry Nance trade with the Cleveland Cavaliers, the Suns selected shooting guard Dan Majerle in the 1988 NBA Draft. An unpopular pick among fans, Majerle quickly won them over by filling the void left by Nance. He threw down impressive dunks, earning him the nickname “Thunder Dan” for his efforts.
Majerle played in Phoenix for seven seasons to start his career, at times starting and others as a key player off the bench. Three times he was named an NBA All-Star while with Phoenix, an achievement equal parts his play on-the-court, as well as his popularity.
His first nod came in 1992 when he was primarily as a bench player. Yet, he still averaged 17.3 points and 5.9 rebounds per game that season.
During his tenure, the Suns made a push towards a title, falling just short again and again. The Suns lost in the first round just once during his time with the team, advancing at least to the second round six of seven years.
In 1989 and 1990, they fell just short of a shot at the “Bad Boys” Pistons. Finally in 1993, the Suns broke through to the NBA Finals, only to lose to Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls.
In 1995, a retooling Suns team traded him to the Cavaliers in a package for big man “Hot Rod” Williams, sending Majerle full-circle. He would play six seasons in Cleveland and with the Miami Heat before returning to Phoenix in 2001-02 for one last season before retiring. His Suns career ended with 52 win shares and a number of key contributions to winning basketball for the team.
With all due respect to the Suns teams of the 1970s and the mid-2000s, the best collection of talent ever assembled on one roster came during the first half of the 1990s for Phoenix. For example, the 1993 NBA Finals team featured Kevin Johnson, Charles Barkley, Dan Majerle and Mark West, all players featured prominently in the greatest to ever wear the Suns’ uniform. Also on that team was the offensively gifted Tom Chambers.
Chambers was one of the best scoring forwards of the 1980s, pouring in points at every stop. He averaged 17.2 points per game in his rookie season and never looked back. That would be the lowest average until 1991-92 when the shots were more evenly spread out on a loaded Phoenix team.
After his rookie year in 1981-82, Chambers played seven seasons with the then-San Diego Clippers and the then-Seattle SuperSonics, earning one All-Star nod. Then in 1988 as an unrestricted free agent, he signed a lucrative contract with the Suns, immediately jump-starting their offense.
In each of his first three seasons with the Suns, he made the All-Star team. This includes a pair of All-NBA nods as well. He put up 25.7 points per game in his first season on the team, then topped himself with a career-high 27.2 the next year in 1989-90.
Chambers was one of the most talented scorers of his era. He has more points over any other eligible player in NBA history not to be in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. Yet his game was all entrée and no sides.
He was not a strong defensive player, nor a skilled distributor and he never diversified his game by adding a 3-point shot. A pure scorer he might have been, and a great one at that, but the lack of depth to his game has hurt him historically. Perhaps this could have helped the Suns get over that championship hump?
At the end of his five seasons with the Suns, Chambers had totaled 34.6 win shares, including 11.2 in the 1989-90 season. Released by the Suns in 1993, he plied his trade as a journeyman scorer around the league and abroad for another five years before hanging up his jersey.
Looking back into history is always a difficult task when answering questions of the “what if” sort. How do we tell what may have happened if a certain player did not get hurt, or did not get addicted to drugs? What if this team had picked that player in the draft instead? What if that shot rimmed out, or banked in?
In the case of Connie Hawkins, the question has to be asked, but can never be properly answered. One of the best young basketball prospects in the nation, Hawkins found himself caught up in the point shaving scandal that swept basketball in the 1960s and as such found himself banned from the NBA.
The terrible part of this story is that Hawkins, according to both his own testimony and all the available evidence, never once shaved points. There is no record of him accepting money to do so, or of it actually taking place. Instead Hawkins, as well as a few other players of his age, were blocked from the NBA.
The ABA’s formation was a major boon for Hawkins and his compatriots, allowing him to continue to ply his trade of basketball. In 1969, the lack of evidence and the major media coverage of the case led the NBA to settle the lawsuit Hawkins had brought against them and lift the ban. After proving himself to be one of the most talented players in the ABA, he joined the NBA in 1969 as a member of the Suns.
Hawkins would play just over four seasons with the Suns, already 27 by the time he made his NBA debut. He made the All-Star team all four seasons, averaging over 20 points per game during his tenure.
He helped lead the fledgling Suns to their first playoff berth in franchise history in 1969-70. That same year saw him be named to the All-NBA First Team. He put up 36.4 win shares in his time with the Suns, including a high of 10.2 in that standout 1969-70 season.
It’s both sad and exciting to think about what might have been if Hawkins had played a full college career before joining the NBA in his prime. Even with all the hurdles unfairly placed in his way, Hawkins eventually found his way to the league. He helped make an impact for the Suns in their earliest years as a franchise.
If Alvan Adams holds the record for longest-tenured Suns player, Walter Davis is right on his heels with 11 seasons in the desert. The South Carolina native and North Carolina Tar Heel was drafted by the Suns in 1977. He spent the next decade-plus playing alongside Adams on the Suns.
If Adams was an interior presence at center with occasional bursts of scoring, Davis was an outside scorer with occasional bursts of defense. Davis exploded into the league in his rookie season, dropping 24.3 points per game, earning NBA Rookie of the Year honors. His gaudy scoring totals also earned him a place on the NBA All-Star team and an All-NBA Second Team nod.
While Davis would never quite reach that same scoring mark again, he continued to put the ball through the basket. By the end of his Suns tenure, he had racked up 15,566 points. This is still the most in franchise history by a comfortable margin.
Davis ranks second among all Suns players in games played, first in field goals made and attempted, fourth in assists and third in steals. He would make six NBA All-Star games in total during those 11 seasons in Phoenix, including another All-NBA Second Team selection in 1979.
While his best years came at the beginning of his career, he continued to contribute to the Suns until he left the franchise in 1988 NBA free agency. His 66.4 win shares rank sixth in franchise history, just a hair behind fellow offensive engine Amar’e Stoudemire.
Many of the greatest players in NBA history make their mark for one specific NBA franchise. Some have done quality work for two. Players such as Kobe Bryant, Tim Duncan and Larry Bird fit in the first category.
Players such as Shaquille O’Neal and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar in the second. Very few players have standout, meaningful impacts on three different franchises. LeBron James may end up in that category, where he will join Jason Kidd.
Kidd, a Bay Area native, attended the University of California before being drafted by the Dallas Mavericks in the 1994 NBA Draft. He played just over two seasons with the Mavericks, part a promising young core that never developed. He was traded as part of a blockbuster package to the Suns in December of 1996.
Kidd played just under five seasons in Phoenix, establishing himself as one of the best point guards in the entire league. The flashy passer never averaged fewer than nine assists per game with the Suns. Three times he led the league in that category. The Suns were a better team when he was on the court, giving him standout numbers in most on/off metrics during his tenure.
Kidd made the NBA All-Star team three times while with the Suns, the exception being the lockout-shortened 1998-99 year. He was also an All-NBA First Team player three times as well. This acknowledged his standing at the point guard position league-wide.
The problem with Kidd’s tenure in Phoenix was that he could never get the Suns to become a true contender. While he was there, they made it out of the first round only once, and never made it to the Western Conference Finals.
The Suns tried a variety of backcourt combinations with Kidd, including a young Steve Nash and a veteran Penny Hardaway, but eventually decided to try a fresh look. In June 2001, the team traded Kidd to the then-New Jersey Nets as part of a package that saw Stephon Marbury join the Suns.
In 309 games with the Suns, Kidd averaged 14.4 points and 9.7 assists per game, totaling 37.5 win shares for the franchise. He went on to lead the Nets to the NBA Finals twice, later returning to the Mavericks to help them win a title. Phoenix would eventually move on from Marbury as well, ultimately to find the point guard they were looking for was one they had already had years before.
It might not be hyperbole to say that no player in NBA history ever benefited as much from playing alongside another player as Amar’e Stoudemire did playing alongside Steve Nash. The hyper-athletic power forward put up gaudy numbers with the Suns, all alongside floor master Nash.
Stoudemire was drafted ninth overall in 2002 straight out of high school, and was an instant sensation on the court. He put up 13.5 points and 8.8 rebounds per game alongside Shawn Marion and Stephon Marbury, winning NBA Rookie of the Year in 2003. He continued to put up solid numbers on middle-of-the-pack Suns teams until the organization brought back Nash in 2004.
That following season, Stoudemire ascended to a new level, putting up 26 points per game on elite efficiency. Nash’s ability to manipulate a defense opened up seams that Stoudemire absolutely terrorized. His ability to score inside was so good that teams would try to double him, leading to Nash finding an open shooter. The pairing created one of the greatest offensive stretches the league has ever seen.
Stoudemire played eight seasons with the Suns, averaging 21.4 points per game, good for fourth all-time in franchise history. He ranks third in total rebounds, blocks and free throws made. Five times he made the NBA All-Star team. Four times he was named to the All-NBA team at season’s end, including the First Team in 2007. His 67.9 franchise win shares is fifth all-time.
In 2010, Stoudemire exercised his right as an unrestricted free agent and left for the New York Knicks, where injuries and an inconsistent supporting cast led to the downswing of his NBA career. After brief stints with the Dallas Mavericks and the Miami Heat, Stoudemire is now playing overseas in Israel, where he has become something of a star over there.
Ranking Shawn Marion was the most difficult decision on this entire list. By some criteria he should be first, by others probably further down. In the end, the do-it-all forward ends up at fifth, ahead of some incredible players on the merit of elite two-way play.
“The Matrix” was drafted ninth overall in the 1999 NBA Draft out of UNLV. He was immediately a positively impactful player, starting 38 games and posting a positive Box Plus/Minus. In year two, he started all 79 games he played. He averaged 17.9 points per game, while being a versatile defender at multiple positions. This earned him 11.7 win shares. This was a trend throughout his Suns tenure, good scoring plus excellent defense equaling maximum impact.
Seven times Marion posted at least nine win shares in a season, which is twice more than any other Suns player before him or since. Simply put, he made his teams better every minute he was on the floor. Marion certainly benefited from playing alongside elite point guards in Jason Kidd and Steve Nash, but his impact would have been great regardless.
Marion made the NBA All-Star team four times, all while in Phoenix. He earned two All-NBA nods in 2005 and 2006. His 14.6 win shares in 2005-06 is the most in one season in franchise history, and his 93.2 career win shares are the most in franchise history.
While never in the NBA MVP conversation, Marion was underappreciated as a player throughout his time in Phoenix and at other stops. He was a critical part of Dirk Nowitzki and the Dallas Mavericks winning a title in 2011.
The body of work he provided the Suns speaks to his impact every moment he was on the court, and that deserves recognition. Marion is one of the five greatest players in Suns history.
While well-known for his years coaching the Suns in the 1990s, decades before Paul Westphal was an elite guard playing for some successful Phoenix teams in the 1970s. Joining the league in 1972, Westphal played three seasons with the Boston Celtics, winning a title with them in 1974.
In 1975, he was traded to the Suns in a package for Charlie Scott. A role player with the Celtics, Westphal blossomed with the Suns, increasing his scoring by 10.7 points per game in his first year in the desert. Two years later, he posted a career-best 25.2 points per game.
The defining moment of that era of Phoenix basketball was the run to the 1976 NBA Finals, where Westphal and the Suns faced off against his former team in Boston. Game 5 of that series was a triple-overtime affair often called “the greatest game ever played” for its level of play and heightened stakes.
Westphal was crucial in that contest, hitting the and-1 to tie the game in the final seconds of regulation. He also stole the ball from John Havlicek to put the Suns in position to win during the second overtime.
After another Havlicek basket and just two seconds remaining, Westphal craftily took advantage of the rules and called a timeout the team did not have. They were assessed a technical foul, which the Celtics hit to go up by two points.
However, the Suns were now allowed to inbound into the frontcourt, setting up Gar Heard’s famous game-tying shot to send the game to triple overtime. While the Suns ultimately lost the game and the series, Westphal established himself as one of the league’s great players.
In total, Westphal played five seasons with the Suns in the prime of his career. He made four NBA All-Star squads and a similar four All-NBA teams, including three First Team nods. He put up at least 9.6 win shares in five straight seasons for the Suns, the picture of a consistently great star.
After playing a few seasons with the then-Seattle SuperSonics and the New York Knicks, Westphal returned to Phoenix in 1983 for his final NBA season before retiring. He will be best remembered for leading the Suns as close to a title as they would come until the 1990s.
In recent years, Kevin Johnson has become associated with the Sacramento Kings not because he ever played for them, but because he was elected mayor of his hometown in 2008. Yet for nearly the entirety of his playing career, Johnson wore the Suns logo on his chest, and performed to great heights while doing so.
A two-sport star growing up, Johnson ultimately chose to pursue basketball over baseball and entered the 1987 NBA Draft. Selected by the Cleveland Cavaliers, he played just 52 games with them before he was traded as part of a blockbuster package for Larry Nance. While Nance would be a dominant force on the Cavaliers, he would not lead his new team as far as Johnson would lead his.
In his first full season in Phoenix, Johnson upped his scoring average to over 20 points per game, throwing in 12.2 assists and 1.7 steals per game as well. Johnson was the first player in Suns history to average at least 10 assists per game. This was a bar he would clear four times and that would become almost expected with the elite point guard play of the next few decades in Phoenix.
In 1988-89, Johnson, along with players such as Tom Chambers and Jeff Hornacek, led the Suns to the Western Conference Finals, where they were swept by Magic Johnson and the Los Angeles Lakers.
The following year, they came back to the same place, this time beating the Lakers in the second round, with Johnson dominating Magic in the deciding games. The team then lost in six games to the Portland Trail Blazers.
Although Johnson continued to be brilliant, the cast around him needed another star. That came in 1992 in the form of “Sir” Charles Barkley. With another mouth to feed, Johnson’s numbers went down, but the trade-off was a team strong enough to beat the Lakers, the San Antonio Spurs and the then-Seattle SuperSonics en route to the NBA Finals.
However, they lost in six games to Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls. That would prove to be the closest the Suns have been since to winning an NBA title.
Johnson stayed in Phoenix for the remainder of his career, all-told 12 seasons. While he made just three All-Star teams, he was named to the All-NBA teams five times, including four Second-Team selections. His 90.9 win shares rank second only to Shawn Marion in franchise history.
Charles Barkley is one of the most outgoing and recognizable personalities to ever step onto an NBA court. He has been well-known and generally well-liked since the beginning of his career. Over the years he has collected a wealth of nicknames, including “Sir Charles”, “The Chuck Wagon” and “The Round Mound of Rebound.”
After growing up in the deep south, Barkley was drafted fifth overall out of Auburn University by the Philadelphia 76ers in the 1984 NBA Draft. He would play eight seasons in total for Philadelphia, making six NBA All-Star teams and proving to be a skilled post scorer and rebounder despite his 6-foot-6 size.
1992 proved to be a pivotal year for Barkley. In June, he was traded to the Suns for a package centered around Jeff Hornacek. A month later he was in Barcelona competing with the “Dream Team” of USA Basketball.
The 1992 Summer Olympics were the first time active NBA players could compete in the games. Barkley was a deserving part of a loaded team of stars and started most of the games en route to the gold medal. Stories of his “exploits” in Barcelona are both legendary and played their part in the future international expansion of the NBA’s popularity.
Upon returning to The States, Barkley was now teamed up with Kevin Johnson in Phoenix, and his career reached its highest of heights. He won NBA MVP in 1993, putting up 25 points, 12 rebounds, five assists, a block and steal per game on a Suns team that won 62 games and pushed the Chicago Bulls in the NBA Finals.
In total, Barkley would play just four seasons in the desert, but the quality of those seasons is untouchable. He averaged 23 points and 11 rebounds per game for the Suns, putting up 44.4 win shares in just 280 games.
He was an NBA All-Star all four years with Phoenix, as well as an annual All-NBA selection. While Barkley and Johnson couldn’t quite get the Suns the title, their pairing pushed the Suns as close as they had come in decades.
Any fan of the Suns reading this far into this piece knows who the best player in Phoenix history is without looking. Point guard Steve Nash is one of modern basketball’s biggest heroes, a player loved by fans of every sort (perhaps outside of San Antonio, at least) and a pioneer of a style of basketball that has taken over the entire league after his retirement.
The Canadian native was not well-recruited coming out of high school, playing for small Santa Clara. He nonetheless lead them to the NCAA Tournament in three of his four seasons, including a pair of upset victories to bracket his college career. He was then selected 15th overall in the 1996 NBA Draft.
Even once in the NBA, Nash was not looked at as an elite prospect. He did not start in his first two seasons in the desert. In 1998, he was traded to the Dallas Mavericks, where he would establish himself as one of the more talented point guards in the league alongside Dirk Nowitzki.
In 2004, he returned to the Suns as a free agent. The combination of Nash and head coach Mike D’Antoni proved to be a potent one. Nash posted a career-high 11.5 assists per game in his first season back in Phoenix. The Suns leapt from 29 wins to an NBA-best 62.
Nash’s ability to shoot forced defenses to defend him closely, opening up the court for his teammates, who Nash would seemingly always find with the ball. The Suns’ up-tempo style of play became known as “Seven Seconds or Less” and is a crucial part of the league’s development in recent years.
Nash spent the next eight seasons in Phoenix putting up incredible numbers, scoring and passing at elite levels. The Suns continued to be dominant in the regular season, even if they never could break out of a loaded Western Conference that included Dirk Nowitzki’s Mavericks, Kobe Bryant’s Los Angeles Lakers and Tim Duncan’s Spurs.
Six times Nash was named an NBA All-Star while with Phoenix. He made five All-NBA teams including three nods to the First Team as a member of the Suns.
In 2005 and 2006, Nash was named NBA MVP, giving him two-thirds of the franchise’s MVP awards. He amassed 82.7 win shares for the team, third-most all-time. He is the franchise leader in 3-point field goals, assists and offensive win shares.
Nash ended his career battling injuries or he may have hit even higher heights. Even so, his contributions to the Suns were extensive. He showed that a player can be wildly successful, while also making all of his teammates better. Few players in the history of the league have done that as well as Nash, the greatest player in Suns franchise history.