Suns’ careers of future HOFers Steve Nash, Jason Kidd: By the numbers
Mar 29, 2018, 11:05 AM | Updated: Mar 31, 2018, 4:10 pm
In today’s NBA, the pass-first point guard has become a dying breed. In its golden era, the Phoenix Suns had two of the best in Steve Nash and Jason Kidd.
On Thursday morning, Nash and Kidd were notified that they would be part of the 2018 class inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame.
Nash spent 10 years with the Suns in two stints, first from 1996-98 and again from 2004-12. Kidd played five years in Phoenix, from the middle of the 1996-97 season until 2001.
With the countdown to Springfield on, here is a look at their careers with the Suns, by the numbers.
.435
A sharpshooter before the NBA shifted to a heavy three-point shooting league, Nash shot above 43 percent from deep in Phoenix, the highest percentage in Suns history.
5
Not only is Nash in the Suns’ record books, he’s at the top of quite a few statistical categories. In 10 seasons, Nash left Phoenix as the statistical leader in five categories. Including the aforementioned three-point shooting percentage, he leads in three-point field goals (1051), three-point field goals attempted (2417), free throw percentage (90.7 percent) and assists (6997).
8
In 15 combined seasons with the Suns, Nash and Kidd combined to produce eight All-NBA seasons. With Phoenix, both players made the first team three times while Nash added two second-team appearances.
9.7
Both guards were renowned floor generals during their time in Phoenix but Kidd leads the Suns all-time list, averaging 9.7 assists per game in the Valley.
10
Though Phoenix is still searching for its first championship, the Suns made the playoffs 10 times throughout Nash and Kidd’s time in Phoenix. The team made three Western Conference Finals appearances in that time.
13
Aside from Nash’s jersey number, his back-to-back MVP seasons make him one of 13 players in league history to win the award multiple times. Nash won following the 2004-05 and 2005-06 seasons.
10,008
With Nash and Kidd running the offense, Phoenix was a generous place to play during their careers. Between 6,997 assists from Nash and 3,011 from Kidd, the two dished out over 10,000 combined assists with the Suns. All-time, Kidd and Nash rank second and third in assists in NBA history, trailing only John Stockton.
