Fan Vote Results: The most popular Phoenix Sun of all time
By Luke Duffy
2. Kevin Johnson (9% of the vote)
You might be surprised to see Kevin Johnson finish as the runner up here, but you really shouldn’t be. In fact it is only fitting that he edges out Booker for second spot, because Booker will have taken this from Johnson in the next 12-18 months.
So let us give Johnson his flowers now while we have the chance. When you talk about the most underrated point guards of a generation, Johnson’s name has to come up. Playing 840 games for a franchise is accomplishment enough, but Johnson did it his way, being named a three-time All-Star in the process.
With the benefit of hindsight he might have deserved a couple more, but he was just not as popular or well known as the other great floor generals of the 90s. Like Majerle and Barkley before him, Johnson was also a part of that finals run in 1993, and at his absolute peak between 1988-1991 was giving you over 20 points and 12 assists each night.
Johnson will always have a special place in the heart of a generation of fans, because he came out of retirement in 1999 at the tender age of 33-years-old to play six more regular season games for the Suns, having walked away from the game the year before.
Even better, he helped the organization to the postseason, where he played nine more times before calling it quits for good. No matter what you think of Booker or Barkley – or even the guy who won this contest in a landslide – Johnson has as good a claim as any to be called “Mr. Suns Basketball”. That is a short list.