Steve Nash won back-to-back MVP awards with the Phoenix Suns.
The Phoenix Suns are still searching for their first NBA championship. That’s despite Hall of Fame players putting together spectacular seasons while playing for the franchise. Let’s highlight the two players who have taken home a regular season MVP award with the franchise.
Charles Barkley, 1992-93
Barkley was originally drafted by the 76ers and was a regular in the voting for the MVP award during his time with the team. At one point, he had a stretch of six straight seasons in which he finished inside the top six for the award. His highest finish was second in 1989-90 when he averaged 25.2 points, 11.5 rebounds, 3.9 assists and 1.9 steals per game. Following the 1991-92 season, Barkley was traded to the Suns.
Barkley immediately won a regular season MVP award during his first season with the Suns in 1992-93. He averaged 25.6 points, 12.2 rebounds, 5.1 assists, 1.6 steals and 1.0 blocks per game that season. As was the case for most of his career, Barkley was an efficient scorer that season by shooting 52.0% from the field. Barkley played a total of four seasons for the Suns before finishing his career by playing four seasons for the Rockets. Over 280 career games with the Suns, Barkley averaged 23.4 points, 11.5 rebounds, 4.4 assists and 1.6 steals.
Steve Nash, 2004-05
The Suns selected Nash with the 15th pick in the 1996 Draft. He spent two seasons with the franchise before playing the next six seasons with the Mavericks. He made two All-Star teams with the Mavericks but never finished higher than 11th in MVP voting with the team.
Nash returned to the Suns prior to the 2004-05 season and did so in triumphant fashion, winning his first regular season MVP. He led the NBA by averaging 11.5 assists per game, while also averaging 15.5 points, 3.3 rebounds and 1.0 steals. Nash shot 50.2% from the field that season, which marked the first time in his career that he made at least half of his field goal attempts.
Steve Nash, 2005-06
Nash followed up his first career MVP by winning the award again in 2005-06. He led the league in assists again with 10.5 of them per game. He also increased his scoring average to 18.8 points while shooting 51.2% from the field. The boost in his scoring numbers was aided by him averaging 1.9 3-pointers per game and shooting 43.9% from behind the arc.
Nash almost won his third straight MVP the following season, finishing second for the award by averaging 18.6 points, 11.6 assists and 2.1 3-pointers. After spending eight straight seasons with the Suns, Nash joined the Lakers prior to the 2012-13 season and played the final two seasons of his career with them. Across 744 career regular season games with the Suns, Nash averaged 14.4 points, 9.4 assists and 1.4 3-pointers.
