1996–97 Phoenix Suns season

The 1996–97 Phoenix Suns season was the 29th season for the Phoenix Suns in the National Basketball Association. For the first time since the 1991–92 season, All-Star forward Charles Barkley was not on the Suns opening day roster. This season is notable for the Suns drafting point guard Steve Nash out of Santa Clara University with the 15th overall pick in the 1996 NBA draft. During the off-season, the team acquired Sam Cassell, Robert Horry, Mark Bryant and Chucky Brown from the Houston Rockets, and signed free agent Rex Chapman.

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. After an 0–8 start, head coach Cotton Fitzsimmons resigned and was replaced by former Suns guard Danny Ainge. 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, sending Horry along with Joe Kleine to the Los Angeles Lakers in exchange for former Suns forward Cedric Ceballos and Rumeal Robinson, 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. 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, 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, and qualified for the NBA playoffs for the ninth consecutive year. 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, 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.

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. 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, and Ainge finished in fourth place in Coach of the Year voting.

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 also set a then-playoff record of 9 three-point field goals. However, the team lost Game 2 to the SuperSonics on the road by a 44-point margin, 122–78. The Suns won Game 3 over the SuperSonics at home, 110–103 at the America West Arena to take a 2–1 series lead, but then lost Game 4 at home in overtime, 122–115; a memorable highlight of the game occurred when Chapman hit a three-point buzzer-beater to send the game into overtime. 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.

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. Following the season, Person and Dumas were both traded to the Cleveland Cavaliers in a three-team trade, and Tisdale retired.