Phoenix Suns

Phoenix plays in the NBA's Western Conference, chasing a title that has slipped away three times at the last stage. No team has a better all-time winning percentage without a championship to show for it, a distinction the Suns carry into every new season at the Mortgage Matchup Center, where 17,071 fit inside on a full night.

The closest they came was 1976, then 1993 against Chicago, then 2021 against Milwaukee — three Finals, three defeats, the Western Conference itself won on each of those occasions before the deciding stage got away from them. The Pacific Division has come easier: eight titles there, most recently in 2022.

Steve Nash shaped the version of this club people talk about longest. Under him and coach Mike D'Antoni, Phoenix ran what became known as the Seven Seconds or Less offense, built to get a shot up before a defense could set — a style that won Nash back-to-back MVP awards without ever delivering the ring it was built to chase. Charles Barkley carried the 1993 team to its Finals run and took the MVP award that year himself.

Thirteen Hall of Famers have worn the uniform, and twelve numbers hang retired from the rafters. The rivalry with the Lakers runs along the usual lines of the Pacific Division; the one with San Antonio was sharper for a stretch, the two sides meeting in the playoffs ten times between 1992 and 2010.

The franchise itself dates to a league expansion in 1968, when Phoenix and Milwaukee joined the NBA together for the new season.