Phoenix Suns

The Phoenix Suns are a National Basketball Association team based in Phoenix, Arizona.

Founded: 1968

Formerly known as:

Uniform colors: Purple and yellow

Logo design: A burning basketball, the letters "PHX" superimposed

NBA Championships:

Franchise history

The Suns came to the Valley of the Sun in 1968. They began with a victory over the Seattle Supersonics on opening night.

The brainchild of former Chicago Bulls assistant coach and Arizona sports magnate Jerry Colangelo, the Suns in the 70's had mild success, combining the talents of such players like Dick Van Arsdale ('The Original Sun'), his twin brother Tom Van Arsdale, Hall of Famer Connie Hawkins, Truck Robinson, Alvan Adams, and center Neal Walk, who sadly, in 1974 had a car accident that left him paralized. In 1976,the year the movie Rocky was released, the Suns proved to be a real-life, basketball version of Rocky.They finished the season with 40 wins and 42 losses, but shockingly they beat the Golden State Warriors in the playoffs and went on to play the Boston Celtics in the NBA finals, giving the Celtics a tough battle before falling in 6 games. Game 3 was a classic that is considered to be the greatest game in NBA history.

The next few years for the Suns werent as good, as a drug scandal rocked the organization in 1982, and the franchise was having a hard time putting wins together. That all began to change in 1987, though, with the acquisition through a trade with the Cleveland Cavaliers of Kevin Johnson and Mark West. In 1988, Tom Chambers came over from Seattle, Jeff Hornacek was signed, and the team began a 13 year playoff streak. Kurt Rambis was added from the Charlotte Hornets in 1989, and the team caused a shocking upset by beating the Los Angeles Lakers in 5 games that year before falling to the Portland Trail Blazers in the western conference finals.

Hornacek was traded to Philadelphia in 1992 along with Andrew Lang for the flamboyant and sensational Charles Barkley, a future hall of famer himself. Former Boston Celtics member Danny Ainge was added to the mix and the Suns had a dynamic team that would be hard to stop. They won 62 games that year, advancing to the NBA finals for the second time ever, where they lost in 6 games to the Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen led Bulls. The next couple of years saw the Suns waste 3 to 1 leads vs the Houston Rockets and get eliminated by them both years. In 1996, Barkley's relationship with Colangelo grew sour and they thrashed each other publicly. Barkley got traded and the Suns began what has been a down-spiral that has continued to this day. While this was going on, Johnson retired, but he attempted a comeback to try to help the Suns during the 1998 playoffs.

The Suns kept making the playoffs until the 2001-2002 campaing, when they fell short for the first time in 14 years.

It is worthy to note that every single Suns game in history has been covered both on local Phoenix tv and Radio by the legendary broadcaster, Al McCoy, who has battled every kind of situation imaginable to keep doing his job every time his beloved Suns play. He even travelled to Japan in 1991, when the Suns kicked off the 1991-1992 NBA season there with 2 games against the Utah Jazz.

Players of note

Basketball Hall of Famers:

  Connie Hawkins

Not to be forgotten:

Retired numbers:

Current stars:

Phoenix Suns official web site