1992–93 Phoenix Suns season

The 1992–93 NBA season was the 25th season for the Phoenix Suns in the National Basketball Association.[1] This season is most memorable for the Suns acquiring All-Star power forward Charles Barkley from the Philadelphia 76ers,[2][3][4][5][6] and signing free agent Danny Ainge prior to the season.[7][8][9] Under new head coach Paul Westphal,[10][11][12] the Suns had a successful season posting a 14-game winning streak in December,[13] which led them to a 21–4 start, held a 38–10 record at the All-Star break,[14] then posted an 11-game winning streak between March and April to finish with an NBA-best 62–20 record.[15] The team set the franchise record for most wins in a season (the record was later tied in the 2004–05 season and later broken in the 2021-22 NBA season). Barkley won the NBA Most Valuable Player Award,[16][17][18][19][20] and led the team to its second trip to the NBA Finals, where they lost to Michael Jordan, Scottie Pippen and the 2-time defending champion Chicago Bulls in six games.[21][22][23][24][25]

In the Western Conference First Round of the playoffs, the Suns faced elimination as they trailed 2–0 against the 8th-seeded Los Angeles Lakers.[26][27][28] However, they won the next three games, including a 112–104 overtime home win in Game 5 to advance in the Western Conference Semi-finals,[29][30][31][32] where they defeated the 5th-seeded San Antonio Spurs in six games.[33][34][35][36] In the Western Conference finals, they defeated the Seattle SuperSonics in a full seven-game series,[37][38][39][40] on their way to the Finals before losing in six games to the Bulls.

Barkley led the Suns in scoring and rebounding with 25.6 points and 12.1 rebounds per game, and also contributed 1.6 steals per game, and was named to the All-NBA First Team, while Dan Majerle finished second on the team in scoring with 16.9 points per game, contributed 1.7 steals per game, and finished tied in first place in the league with 167 three-point field goals, while being named to the NBA All-Defensive Second Team. Barkley and Majerle were both selected for the 1993 NBA All-Star Game, with Westphal coaching the Western Conference.[41][42][43][44] In addition, point guard Kevin Johnson only played just 49 games due to groin, hamstring and knee injuries,[45][46][47] averaging 16.1 points, 7.8 assists and 1.7 steals per game, and rookie forward Richard Dumas (who was suspended for all of the previous season for violating the NBA's substance abuse policy), contributed 15.8 points, led the Suns with 1.8 steals per game and was selected to the NBA All-Rookie Second Team, despite only playing just 48 games due to injury. Cedric Ceballos provided the team with 12.8 points and 5.5 rebounds per game, while off the bench, sixth man Tom Chambers provided with 12.2 points and 4.7 rebounds per game, Ainge contributed 11.8 points per game and 150 three-point field goals, and first round draft pick Oliver Miller led the team with 1.8 blocks per game.[48] Westphal finished in fourth place in Coach of the Year voting.[49][50][51] Following the season, Chambers signed as a free agent with the Utah Jazz.[52][53][54]

The season saw the debut of the new "Streaking Sun" logo,[55] which was featured on the front of the team's new jerseys.[56][57] The new primary logo and uniforms would both remain in use until 2000. The season was also the Suns first at the new America West Arena (currently known as "Footprint Center"). The new arena had a regular season attendance of 779,943 in 41 home games, the fifth highest total attendance in the league.[58] The team sold-out the capacity 19,023 arena every game of the season.

This was the last time the Suns would make the NBA Finals until the 2020–21 season.