The 10 Greatest Suns in history, ranked by Player Efficiency Rating (PER)
The Phoenix Suns have had some generational talents play in The Valley, but who are the top 10 in Player Efficiency Rating in the history of the franchise?
By Luke Duffy
Despite never winning an NBA Championship, the Phoenix Suns have had some of the best players in the history of the league suit up for them.
But who is the greatest player in the history of the franchise, based purely on Player Efficiency Rating (PER), which was invented by John Hollinger as a kind of catch-all statistic to determine who the best and most influential players are.
The league average for PER is 15, while if you can get close to 25 you are truly in rarified air.
As you will see, this list is going to throw up a few surprises, with current franchise cornerstone Devin Booker failing to make the cut. The smart money would be on Booker forcing his way onto this list when all is said and done, but there are some great players keeping him out right now.
10. Larry Nance - 19.8
It feels like Larry Nance is one of those players who has been lost to time, but those who know all about the high-flying power forward, know all about the high-flying power forward. Nance is probably most famous for two other things before we think of his seven seasons in The Valley.
That would be his days as a Cleveland Cavalier - also seven years while becoming a two-time All-Star there - and being the father of current NBA player, Larry Nance Jr. But before all of that, Nance was the inaugural Slam Dunk Champion back in 1984, while also making an All-Star game, both of which came with the Suns.
In his first three seasons in the league he missed only two games - a kind of earlier version of the "Ironman" Mikal Bridges we would come to know - and he finished his time in The Valley having put up 17.3 points in 514 games. Fondly remembered as being really good at lots of areas of the game, without ever truly excelling at a truly elite level in any one part.