The Phoenix Suns are an American professional basketball team based out of Phoenix, Arizona that compete in the National Basketball Association as an expansion…
The Phoenix Suns are an American professional basketball team based out of Phoenix, Arizona that compete in the National Basketball Association as an expansion franchise since 1968. As part of their Western Conference membership they currently play games in Phoenix as a member club of their league.
Robert Sarver purchased majority ownership from former majority owner Jerry Colangelo as part of an overall plan to reorganize and revitalize Suns organization and make them competitive again.
After the season ended, the Suns parted ways with interim head coach Jason Triano and hired Igor Kokoskov as their permanent leader. At the 2018 NBA draft lottery, they received their first selection – Deandre Ayton was ultimately taken.
At the start of their regular season, the Suns began strong, going 17-3 during January and February before sliding into an almost irrelevance in later months, going 4-18 over 37 games before finding form again late in the year and earning their playoff berth as seventh seed. Once in playoffs, however, they upset Seattle SuperSonics four games to advance to their inaugural Finals appearance ever.
In the Finals, the Suns had difficulty with Dallas Mavericks at first and fell behind by 25 points before rallying in the second half to pull off an extraordinary and historic upset victory – marking one of the greatest upsets ever witnessed during playoff play.
In 2021, the Suns returned to the playoffs and made it all the way to the championship round after adding Chris Paul as part of their young core consisting of Devin Booker, Deandre Ayton and Mikal Bridges. They ultimately beat Golden State Warriors in seven games to capture another championship trophy.
With Paul on board, the Suns appear ready to make another run at a championship title in the near future. In addition to amassing one of their strongest rosters ever assembled, they have also taken steps in both draft and free agency to increase their chances of taking home championship glory.
The Suns’ success on the court has been enhanced by their off-court branding and marketing, including partnerships with Southwest Airlines and TGI Friday’s for sponsorship agreements as well as widespread media coverage in their region. Suns’ fan community has won 12 Emmy awards from the Rocky Mountain Southwest Chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, while their uniforms have received accolades both from fans and critics for their distinct design and use of color. Suns’ changes included adding navy blue and teal alternate uniforms as part of an NBA switch from Adidas uniforms to Nike uniforms for 2017-18 season; therefore, traditional sunburst logos with the “Streaking Sun” nickname were replaced with more simplified looks.