1996–97 Phoenix Suns season

Off-season

This season was notable for the Suns drafting point guard Steve Nash out of Santa Clara University with the 15th overall pick in the 1996 NBA draft.^[2][3][4] During the off-season, the team acquired Sam Cassell, Robert Horry, Mark Bryant and Chucky Brown from the Houston Rockets,^[5][6][7] and signed free agent Rex Chapman.^[8][9][10]

Regular season

However, despite the addition of Chapman, Cassell and Horry, the Suns struggled losing their first 13 games of the regular season, as Kevin Johnson missed the first eleven games due to a hernia injury.^[11][12][13] After an 0–8 start to the season, head coach Cotton Fitzsimmons resigned and was replaced with former Suns guard Danny Ainge as the team's new coach.^[14][15][16] Along the way, there were many in-season moves such as trading Cassell, second-year star Michael Finley and A.C. Green, to the Dallas Mavericks in exchange for All-Star guard Jason Kidd, second-year center Loren Meyer and Tony Dumas in late December,^[17][18][19] sending Horry along with Joe Kleine to the Los Angeles Lakers in exchange for former Suns forward Cedric Ceballos and Rumeal Robinson,^[20][21][22] who was released to free agency after a short stint with the team, and trading Brown to the Milwaukee Bucks in exchange for Darrin Hancock, who never played for the Suns and was released to free agency.^[23] It was a season that would not be matched in terms of moves until both the 2014–15 and the 2015–16 seasons came and went.

The Suns held a 17–31 record at the All-Star break,^[24] but played above .500 in winning percentage for the remainder of the season, as the team posted an 11-game winning streak between March and April. The Suns finished in fourth place in the Pacific Division with a 40–42 record, earned the seventh seed in the Western Conference,^[25] and qualified for the NBA playoffs for the ninth consecutive year.^[1] This team would also be the first, and only NBA team to start out the regular season with a 10+ losing streak, yet make it to the playoffs by the end of the season; not only that, but they would also be the first team to record a 10+ game winning streak, after recording a 10+ game losing streak earlier in the season.

Johnson averaged 20.1 points, 9.3 assists and 1.5 steals per game, while Ceballos averaged 15.3 points and 6.6 rebounds per game in 42 games after the trade, Chapman contributed 13.8 points per game and 110 three-point field goals, and sixth man Danny Manning provided the team with 13.5 points and 6.1 rebounds per game off the bench. In addition, Wesley Person contributed 13.5 points per game, and led the Suns with 171 three-point field goals, while Kidd averaged 11.6 points, 9.0 assists and 2.4 steals per game in 33 games, Bryant provided with 9.3 points and 5.2 rebounds per game, but only played just 41 games due to an abdominal strain injury,^[26] and Hot Rod Williams averaged 8.0 points, 8.3 rebounds and 1.3 blocks per game. Also off the bench, Wayman Tisdale provided with 6.5 points and 2.3 rebounds per game, and Nash contributed 3.3 points and 2.1 assists per game.^[27]

During the NBA All-Star weekend at the Gund Arena in Cleveland, Ohio, Nash was selected for the NBA Rookie Game, as a member of the Western Conference Rookie team.^[28][29] Johnson finished tied in 17th place in Most Valuable Player voting, while Manning finished tied in seventh place in Sixth Man of the Year voting,^[30] and Ainge finished in fourth place in Coach of the Year voting.^[30]

The Suns finished seventh in the NBA in home-game attendance, with an attendance of 779,940 at the America West Arena during the regular season.^[27][31]

NBA playoffs

In the Western Conference First Round of the 1997 NBA playoffs, the Suns faced off against the 2nd–seeded, and Pacific Division champion Seattle SuperSonics, who were led by the All-Star trio of Gary Payton, Shawn Kemp and Detlef Schrempf. The Suns won Game 1 over the SuperSonics on the road, 106–101 at the KeyArena at Seattle Center, in which Chapman scored 42 points and made 9 out of 17 three-point field-goal attempts; it was a then-record for the most three-pointers made in an NBA playoff game.^[32][33][34] However, the Suns lost Game 2 to the SuperSonics on the road by a 44-point margin, 122–78.^[35] The Suns won Game 3 over the SuperSonics at home, 110–103 at the America West Arena to take a 2–1 series lead,^[36][37][38] but then lost Game 4 at home in overtime, 122–115; a memorable highlight of the game featured Chapman hitting a three-point buzzer-beater to send the game into overtime.^[39][40][41] With the series tied at 2–2, the Suns lost Game 5 to the SuperSonics at the KeyArena at Seattle Center, 116–92, thus losing in a hard-fought five-game series.^[42][43][44]

Aftermath

Following the season, Person and Dumas were both traded to the Cleveland Cavaliers in a three-team trade,^[45][46][47] and Tisdale retired.

NBA draft

More information Round, Pick ...

Round	Pick	Player	Position	Nationality	College
1	15	Steve Nash	Guard	Canada	Santa Clara
2	39	Russ Millard	Forward	United States	Iowa
2	43	Ben Davis	Forward	United States	Arizona

Close

The Suns used their first-round pick to select point guard Steve Nash from Santa Clara. Nash averaged 14.9 points, 3.1 rebounds and 4.5 assists per game in four years with the Broncos. On July 24, the Suns signed Nash to a three-year rookie contract for $3.2 million. He would spend his first two seasons with the Suns playing a limited role behind All-Star guards Kevin Johnson and Jason Kidd, before being traded to the Dallas Mavericks in 1998. Nash would later return to the franchise as a free agent in 2004, winning consecutive MVP awards in 2005 and 2006 and ultimately making it to the Phoenix Suns Ring of Honor on October 30, 2015.

The Suns received the 39th pick from a trade with the Detroit Pistons in 1994. With the pick they would select power forward Russ Millard from Iowa. Millard averaged 10.1 points and 5.3 rebounds per game in four years with the Hawkeyes. Millard would sign with Italian club Pallacanestro Varese before the season and would never play in the NBA.

The Suns used their second-round pick to select power forward Ben Davis from Arizona. Davis averaged 12.5 points and 8.1 rebounds per game in two years with the Wildcats. On September 25, the Suns signed Davis to a one-year rookie contract for $220,000. Davis spent much of the year on the injured reserve with a finger injury. He would appear in 20 games, average 1.5 points and 1.4 rebounds in 4.9 minutes a game. Davis would sign as a free agent with the New York Knicks after the season. He would later return to the Suns shortly in the 1999–2000 season, appearing in just five games before being waived.

Standings

Game log

Week/Month

• Kevin Johnson was named Player of the Week for games played March 24 through March 30.
• Kevin Johnson was named Player of the Month for April.

All-Star

• This was only the third season in franchise history that the Suns were not represented in the All-Star Game, after the 1986 and 1988 seasons.
• Steve Nash was selected to compete for the Western Conference in the Rookie Challenge.

Season

• Kevin Johnson finished 17th in MVP voting.^[48][30]
• Danny Manning finished seventh in Sixth Man of the Year voting.^[48][30]

Season

* – Stats with the Suns.
† – Minimum 300 field goals made.
^ – Minimum 82 three-pointers made.
# – Minimum 125 free throws made.
+ – Minimum 50 games played.

Playoffs

# – Minimum 10 free throws made.

Player statistics citation:^[27]

Trades

Free agents