12 times the Phoenix Suns signed the less-talented NBA brother

12. Tom Van Arsdale

In every single profession, I don’t care what it is, it so often isn’t what you know (or what you can do) it is who you know, or in some cases, who you’re related to. It was no different in the NBA back in the 1970s.

Dick Van Arsdale‘s #5 jersey is retired in the Phoenix Suns Ring of Honor. It was the first to be commemorated, and rightly so. He was the first true star for the organization, earning three All-Star bids in the Suns’ first three years of existence and was nicknamed The Original Sun.

His win brother, Tom, was also an NBA player and was pretty good in his own right. He also made three All-Star appearances and had a 15.3 points per game career average compared to Dick’s 16.4.

But in the last season of their careers (1976-1977), the brothers decided to pair up and what better place to do it than the team who would gain a knack for signing the lesser of two brothers, the Phoenix Suns.

The Van Arsdale twins played their final NBA season together in the desert, in what I suspect was probably a courtesy signing for The Original Sun.