List of Phoenix Suns seasons

A home game against the Sacramento Kings in the 2006–07 NBA season

The Phoenix Suns are a professional basketball team based in Phoenix, Arizona, United States. They are members of the Pacific Division of the Western Conference in the National Basketball Association (NBA). The Suns began playing in the NBA as an expansion team in the 1968–69 NBA season. In their inaugural season, the Suns posted a win–loss record of 16–66.[1] They participated in the playoffs only once in their first seven seasons.[2]

In the 1975–76 season, a rookie Alvan Adams helped the team reach its first NBA Finals, which they lost to the Boston Celtics 4–2.[3] Charles Barkley and Steve Nash won the Most Valuable Player (MVP) award while playing for the Suns.[4] Barkley led the Suns to the 1993 NBA Finals, where they lost to the Chicago Bulls.[2] After signing with the Suns in 2004,[5] Nash led the team to three straight division titles,[2] but after reaching the conference finals in 2009–10 the Suns subsequently experienced their worst period of on-court failure, missing the playoffs for ten consecutive seasons until the 2020–21 season (the franchise's previous record playoff drought was five seasons, which happened after the team made the postseason in only their second year of existence during the 1969–70 campaign).

Despite their failures in the 2010s, the Suns franchise has the NBA's eighth-best all-time winning percentage, having won nearly 54% of their contests as of the conclusion of the 2022-23 NBA season. In their first forty-three seasons, the Suns made the playoffs 29 times, posted nineteen seasons with fifty or more wins, appeared nine times in the Western Conference finals, and advanced to the NBA Finals three times in 1976, 1993, and 2021.[2] As a result, based on their all-time winning percentage, the Suns are the 2nd-most successful franchise to never win an NBA championship, behind only the Utah Jazz.[6] The 2021 Finals loss to Miwaukee moved Phoenix past the Orlando Magic and Utah Jazz for the most Finals losses without winning a title (Orlando and Utah, as of 2023, have been to 2 NBA Finals apiece but haven't won any of them yet).

  1. ^ "Stoudemire Shines, Suns Roll". NBA.com. NBA Media Ventures, LLC. Archived from the original on November 10, 2012. Retrieved May 7, 2011.
  2. ^ a b c d "Phoenix Suns". basketball-reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on July 22, 2022. Retrieved April 28, 2011.
  3. ^ "The Sunderella Suns". NBA.com. NBA Media Ventures, LLC. Archived from the original on December 1, 2010. Retrieved April 29, 2011.
  4. ^ "Phoenix Suns Media Guide 2010–11" (Flash). NBA.com. NBA Media Ventures, LLC. pp. 114–115. Archived from the original on May 9, 2011. Retrieved April 28, 2011.
  5. ^ "Nash Signs With Suns". SportsNetwork. KTVU. July 14, 2004. Retrieved May 7, 2011.[permanent dead link‍]
  6. ^ Hollinger, John. "No. 5: Phoenix Suns". ESPN.com. Archived from the original on June 26, 2010. Retrieved April 28, 2011.