Phoenix Suns: 20 best player nicknames in team history

2. “Thunder Dan” Majerle

Perhaps no player in Phoenix Suns history is more universally recognized by an adjective and their first name than “Thunder Dan” Majerle. The nickname is so commonplace, the Suns did a full video on its origin.

In short, Majerle had a teammate at Central Michigan who was nicknamed, “Lightning.” He was a perimeter player and the perfect complement to Dan “Thunder” Majerle’s (that’s how it was used at the time) thunderous inside game.

Majerle hated the nickname and thought he was finished with it when he joined the Suns, but when the team played an exhibition game at Central Michigan, the PA announcer called him Dan “Thunder” Majerle, Al McCoy picked up on it, gave it the tweak it needed, and Majerle was henceforth nicknamed “Thunder Dan.”

Majerle claims the nickname eventually grew on him.