Phoenix Suns Trivia
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6correct to beat the crowd
59 free Phoenix Suns trivia questions with answers — sports quiz, new questions added Oct 2026.
This Phoenix Suns trivia quiz covers the whole franchise: the 1968 expansion and the coin flip that cost them Kareem, the Madhouse on McDowell, Garfield Heard's shot in the triple-overtime 1976 Finals game, Kevin Johnson and Charles Barkley, the 62-win 1993 team, Steve Nash's back-to-back MVPs and Seven Seconds or Less, the Chris Paul run to the 2021 Finals, the Kevin Durant era and Devin Booker's climb to the top of the scoring list. Expect easy questions on the arena, the mascot and the biggest names, plenty of history for regular fans, and hard ones about the $200 logo, the 1987 drug scandal, the 153–151 playoff game and the Gorilla's appearance on WWE Raw. Uniforms and the Los Suns protest get their turn too. Every answer was checked against primary and encyclopaedic sources before it went in, so when you miss one you can trust the explanation. Play it solo or run it as a round at your next watch party. For the wider league, our NBA trivia page is the natural next stop.
30 of 59 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01The Suns lost a 1969 coin flip for which UCLA centre?
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, then Lew Alcindor, went first to the team that won the flip after the Suns' league-worst 16–66 debut, and within two seasons he had led that team to the NBA title.
Q 02Which other franchise joined the NBA alongside the Suns in 1968?
Milwaukee Bucks
The Milwaukee Bucks came in with Phoenix in 1968, beat the Suns in a coin flip for the top pick of the 1969 draft and were NBA champions by 1971.
Q 03Whom did the Suns draft second overall in 1969 after losing a coin flip for the first pick?
Neal Walk
Neal Walk, a Florida centre, peaked at 20.2 points and 12.4 rebounds a game in 1972–73, yet the Suns traded him to New Orleans in 1974.
Q 04What entry fee did the Suns' owners pay the NBA for their expansion franchise in 1968?
$2 million
$2 million bought the franchise in January 1968, and the singers Andy Williams and Bobbie Gentry were among the minority owners in the group that paid it.
Q 05Which of these names lost to 'Suns' in the 1968 name-the-team contest?
Scorpions
Scorpions was among the names passed over; so many fans suggested 'Suns' that the winner of the $1,000 prize and season tickets had to be drawn at random.
Q 06How much was Tucson printer Stan Fabe paid to design the Suns' original sunburst logo in 1968?
$200
$200 was the whole fee for Stan Fabe, who ran a commercial printing plant in Tucson, and the Suns went on wearing his sunburst for 24 years.
Q 07Who became the Suns' first general manager at age 28 in 1968 and later owned the team?
Jerry Colangelo
Jerry Colangelo, hired at 28 as the youngest general manager in pro sports, twice stepped in as the Suns' head coach himself before leading the 1987 buyout.
Q 08What was the nickname of Arizona Veterans Memorial Coliseum, the Suns' home for their first 24 seasons?
The Madhouse on McDowell
The Madhouse on McDowell took its name from the Coliseum's address on McDowell Road; the Suns played there from their debut until moving downtown in 1992.
Q 09Which broadcaster, 'the Voice of the Suns' from 1972 to 2023, is the longest-tenured in NBA history?
Al McCoy
Al McCoy called Suns games for 51 seasons, won the Hall of Fame's Curt Gowdy Media Award in 2007 and made 'Shazam!' his trademark cry for a made three-pointer.
Q 10Which guard did the Suns get from Boston in a 1975 trade for Charlie Scott?
Paul Westphal
Paul Westphal arrived from Boston in the 1975 Charlie Scott trade, made four straight All-Star teams in Phoenix and later coached the 1993 Finals team.
Q 11Who hit the buzzer-beating turnaround jumper that forced a third overtime in Game 5 of the 1976 Finals?
Garfield Heard
Garfield Heard's turnaround at the buzzer tied Game 5 after Westphal had deliberately called a timeout the Suns did not have, which moved the inbound to half-court; the Suns nevertheless lost 128–126.
Q 12Which team beat the Suns in the 1976 NBA Finals?
Boston Celtics
The Boston Celtics beat Phoenix in six games for the 1976 title; the Suns had reached the Finals by upsetting the defending champion Warriors in seven.
Q 13A 1987 drug scandal saw three active Suns indicted partly on immunised testimony from which star?
Walter Davis
Q 21Which fan favourite did the Suns trade to Cleveland in 1995 for John 'Hot Rod' Williams?
Dan Majerle
Dan Majerle went to the Cavaliers in October 1995 for John 'Hot Rod' Williams, then came back as a free agent to play his final season in Phoenix in 2001–02.
Q 22Steve Nash, the 15th pick in 1996, came to the Suns from which California college?
Santa Clara
Santa Clara sent Nash to Phoenix as the 15th pick; the Suns traded him after two seasons, re-signed him in 2004 and watched him win the next two MVP awards.
Q 23Which former Suns guard took over as coach during the team's 0–13 start to 1996–97?
Danny Ainge
Danny Ainge replaced Cotton Fitzsimmons eight games into the 0–13 start, and with Jason Kidd arriving in midseason the Suns finished 40–42 and reached the playoffs.
Walter Davis, the Suns' leading scorer, testified to the grand jury under immunity; none of the players stood trial, and the franchise was sold six months after the indictments.
Q 14Which point guard did the Suns get from Cleveland in the 1988 trade that sent Larry Nance to the Cavaliers?
Kevin Johnson
Kevin Johnson arrived from Cleveland in the February 1988 Larry Nance trade, began a run of 13 straight playoff appearances and later served as mayor of Sacramento.
Q 15Which forward, signed by Phoenix in 1988, was the first unrestricted free agent in NBA history?
Tom Chambers
Tom Chambers left Seattle in July 1988 as the NBA's first unrestricted free agent, then scored 60 points against his old team in March 1990, a Suns record at the time.
Q 16Which team beat the Suns 153–151 in double overtime in their last Coliseum game in 1992?
Portland
Portland won what was then the highest-scoring playoff game the NBA had seen, closed out the series in the next game and went on to the NBA Finals.
Q 17Which All-Star guard headed the three-player package the Suns sent to Philadelphia for Charles Barkley in 1992?
Jeff Hornacek
Jeff Hornacek went to Philadelphia with Andrew Lang and Tim Perry in June 1992, and Barkley answered by winning the MVP award in his first season in Phoenix.
Q 18Which team beat the 62-win Suns in six games in the 1993 NBA Finals?
Chicago Bulls
The Chicago Bulls won their third straight title, but the Suns had nearly gone out in round one, dropping the first two games at home to the Lakers before winning three in a row.
Q 19Roughly how many fans lined downtown Phoenix for a parade after the Suns lost the 1993 Finals?
300,000
About 300,000 fans stood along the route in triple-digit heat, six days after a late three-pointer had beaten the Suns by a single point at home in the deciding game.
Q 20Which team eliminated the Suns in seven-game conference semifinals in both 1994 and 1995?
Houston Rockets
The Houston Rockets trailed 0–2 in 1994 and 1–3 in 1995, came back to win both series in seven games and went on to take the title both years.
Q 24The 1998 trade of Steve Nash to Dallas brought Phoenix a future first-round pick used on which player?
Shawn Marion
Shawn Marion went ninth in 1999 with the pick Dallas gave up for Nash, became a four-time All-Star and was Nash's teammate when he came back to Phoenix in 2004.
Q 25Which guard joined Jason Kidd in 1999 to form the Suns' 'Backcourt 2000'?
Penny Hardaway
Penny Hardaway arrived from Orlando in 1999, but injuries kept the pair apart: Kidd broke an ankle in March 2000 and Hardaway played four games the next season.
Q 26Amar'e Stoudemire became the first Rookie of the Year to have been drafted straight from what?
High school
High school was Stoudemire's last stop: drafted ninth in 2002 out of Cypress Creek in Orlando, he beat out Yao Ming in the voting for the 2002–03 award.
Q 27Which banker led the group that bought the Suns for a then-record $401 million in 2004?
Robert Sarver
Robert Sarver, a Tucson-born banker, paid what was then the most ever for an NBA team and kept the Suns until a league suspension in 2022 led him to sell.
Q 28After a team-record 33-win improvement in 2004–05, the Suns lost the conference finals to which team?
San Antonio Spurs
The San Antonio Spurs needed only five games, ending a season in which Phoenix had jumped from 29 wins to a league-best 62.
Q 29Which coach won NBA Coach of the Year with the Suns in 2004–05?
Mike D'Antoni
Mike D'Antoni won the award in his first full season in charge, having taken over from Frank Johnson 21 games into a 29-win season the year before.
Q 30Steve Nash became the second point guard to win back-to-back MVPs, after whom?
Magic Johnson
Magic Johnson won back-to-back MVPs in 1989 and 1990; Nash matched him in 2005 and 2006, then finished second in 2007 to Dirk Nowitzki, his former teammate.