Phoenix Suns, the only non California team in the Pacific Division joined the NBA in 1968 as an expansion team. As of today, they are the only major professional sports franchise in the state of Arizona, which doesn’t play with the state’s name (unlike the NFL’s Arizona Cardinals and the NHL’s Arizona Coyotes). The franchise owns the fourth best winning percentage in NBA history and at the end of the 2014-15 season, they had won 55 percent of their games. Unfortunately that also makes them the team with the highest winning percentage to have never won an NBA Championship.
The franchise has featured some of the greatest NBA Players of all time such as Paul Westphal, Charles Barkley and Steve Nash , sustaining fan support throughout its existence. However, they have been really dreadful over the last 3 seasons. Going a miserable 68-178. They acquired rookie sensation DeAndre Ayton with the first pick in the 2018 NBA Draft. However, that hasn’t really helped the Suns much and they are languishing at the bottom of the Western Conference with a 5-24 record so far.
The dreadful performance has led to ramblings about the team being moved out of the city of Phoenix (and the state of Arizona as well). After a vote to sanction a $230 million renovation was postponed by the city council, team owner Robert Sarver spoke via a video message on twitter: “I am 100 percent all-in in keeping this team right here where we stand. And I want to make sure that message comes across crystal clear to every one of you.
The Phoenix Suns are not leaving Phoenix. I am 100 percent committed and have been for the last four years to find a solution to keep them in downtown Phoenix where they belong.”
Along side the stadium renovation, Sarver is also planning to build a brand new, world class practice facility for player development.
Team President Jason Rowley stated: “The team was not engaged in any discussion with Seattle, Las Vegas or any other city for that matter. We look forward to the public discussion ahead and continuing to work with the City to keep the Suns in our downtown home for years to come.”
The vote for renovation has been postponed to January 23 and the residents of Phoenix can attend five public meetings to discuss the project. The 30 year old arena is the oldest NBA arena which is not under renovation currently.
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