With Nash, Shawn Marion, and Amar'e Stoudemire, and under head coach Mike D'Antoni, the Suns became renowned worldwide for their quick, dynamic offense, which led them to tie a franchise record in wins in the 2004–05 season.

After ten consecutive seasons without a playoff berth, the Suns reached the 2021 NBA Finals after acquiring Chris Paul, who formed a quartet with their young core of Devin Booker, Deandre Ayton and Mikal Bridges.

With Nash, Shawn Marion, and Amar'e Stoudemire, and under head coach Mike D'Antoni, the Suns became renowned worldwide for their quick, dynamic offense, which led them to tie a franchise record in wins in the 2004–05 season.

After ten consecutive seasons without a playoff berth, the Suns reached the 2021 NBA Finals after acquiring Chris Paul, who formed a quartet with their young core of Devin Booker, Deandre Ayton and Mikal Bridges.

The franchise was formed by an ownership group led by Karl Eller, owner of a public enterprise, the investor Donald Pitt, Don Diamond, Bhavik Darji, Marvin Meyer, and Richard L. Bloch.

Jerry Colangelo, then a player scout, came over from the Chicago Bulls,[17] a franchise formed two years earlier, as the Suns' first general manager at the age of 28, along with Johnny "Red" Kerr as head coach.

This era was also marked by the arrival of longtime Suns play-by-play and Naismith Hall of Fame announcer Al McCoy, hired by Jerry Colangelo before the start of the 1972–73 NBA season.

In 1987, the Maricopa County Attorney's Office indicted 13 people on drug-related charges, three of whom were active Suns' players James Edwards, Jay Humphries and Grant Gondrezick.

The scandal did provide an opening for general manager Jerry Colangelo to lead a group that bought the team from its owners for $44 million at the start of the 1987–88 season, a record at that time.

With a drug scandal and the loss of promising young center Nick Vanos, who was killed in the crash of Northwest Airlines Flight 255, the franchise was in turmoil both on and off the court.

The Suns' luck began to turn around in 1988 with the acquisition of Kevin Johnson from the Cleveland Cavaliers, along with Mark West and Tyrone Corbin, for All-Star power forward Larry Nance and Mike Sanders.

Kurt Rambis was added from the Charlotte Hornets in 1989, and the team upset the Los Angeles Lakers in five games during the playoffs that season, before falling to the Portland Trail Blazers in the Western Conference finals.

[22] In addition to Barkley, the Suns added key players to their roster, including Danny Ainge and draftees Arkansas center Oliver Miller and forward Richard Dumas (who was actually drafted in 1991 but was suspended for his rookie year for violating the NBA drug policy).

At the end of the 1994–95 season, Phoenix general manager Bryan Colangelo, the son of Jerry, initiated an eventually costly trade,[26] sending the All-Star Majerle and a first-round draft pick to the Cleveland Cavaliers in exchange for John "Hot Rod" Williams.

[26] The trade was made to address the Suns' need of a shot-blocking center but Majerle's presence was missed and Williams's production never met expectations due to injuries.

The Suns made a blockbuster mid-season trade sending Marbury and Hardaway to the New York Knicks for Antonio McDyess and a future first round pick that was later dealt to Denver.

Under coach D'Antoni, the Suns popularized the fast break offense known as 7 seconds or less, which was later published in a book written by Sports Illustrated writer Jack McCallum.

On March 14, the 49–14 Suns met the 52–10 Dallas Mavericks in a match-up where both teams were fighting for the top seed in the Western conference and Nash was going for his third consecutive MVP award against Dirk Nowitzki.

Though the Suns won the game in double overtime,[34] the Mavericks would finish with the West's top seed at 67–15, and Nowitzki would narrowly win the MVP award ahead of Nash.

On July 1, 2015, the Suns retained the rights of Brandon Knight under an offer similar to that of Eric Bledsoe's, and signed Dallas Mavericks center Tyson Chandler to a four-year deal worth $52 million.

During the day of the 2019 NBA draft, the Suns agreed to deal T. J. Warren to the Indiana Pacers and their second-round pick (which would become KZ Okpala) to the Miami Heat for cash considerations.

[78] In the 2020 off-season, the Suns traded Kelly Oubre Jr., Ricky Rubio, Jalen Lecque, Ty Jerome, and a future first-round draft pick for 10-time All-Star, 10-time All-NBA, and nine-time All-Defensive point guard Chris Paul from the Oklahoma City Thunder.

[102] Sarver eventually accepted the sale of both teams to United Wholesale Mortgage's CEO Mat Ishbia and his brother Justin for a record-high $4 billion purchasing price on December 20, 2022, with the move being made official on February 7, 2023.

[139] The Suns went with a Native American motif for their 2022–23 "City" uniform, featuring a turquoise base, black letters, red trim, and indigenous art designs on the striping.

[143] Former Arizona State University national champion[143] gymnast Bob Woolf[144] immediately stood out with his more acrobatic, aerial take on the character, particularly impressing evaluators when he jumped off a trampoline onto a basketball hoop, pulled himself atop the raised fixture, and danced high above the rim.

[143] Woolf took over the role, introducing the Gorilla's signature slam dunk routines, backflips, and slapstick during games, such as running the stadium stairs to the Rocky theme.

He became the first NBA mascot to incorporate Evel Knievel-inspired daredevil stunts like jumping through a ring of fire or being propelled to the hoop via catapult or grapple wire.

[154][155] Diamond was ultimately allowed to exercise its right of first refusal, but did not make an offer before the deadline lapsed; as a result, the Suns' and Gray formalized the new broadcasting agreement on July 14, 2023.

[158] He stopped broadcasting road games in 2019 due to difficult vantage points at higher locations in other NBA arenas limiting his preferred style of descriptive play-by-play.

[172] As a result of a recommendation by the Coachella Valley Recreation and Park District's Superintendent of Operations, Craig DeWitt, the NBA held its first outdoor exhibition basketball game on October 11, 2008.