One rebounding stat explains decades of Suns history

We continue our journey through the Phoenix Suns archives, once again searching for statistical anomalies hidden throughout the organization’s 58-year history.

Two weeks ago, it was free throws. The Suns sit atop the all-time leaderboard with 61 made free throws in a regular-season game and rank second with 80 attempts. For good measure, we also noted that they are tied for first in free throws made in a playoff game with 57.

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Today, we’re heading to the other end of the spectrum.

Make no mistake about it, the Phoenix Suns are not an organization with a long history of elite rebounders. If I asked you to name the top three rebounding seasons in franchise history based on rebounds per game, could you get all three right? Probably not. It’s something I wrote about three summers ago, and it remains true today. Among the NBA’s 30 teams, the Suns rank 25th in the highest single-season rebounding average in franchise history.

PLAYER

SEASON

RPG

Paul Silas

1971

12.5

Neal Walk

1973

12.4

Charles Barkley

1993

12.2

Paul Silas

1972

11.9

Curtis Perry

1975

11.9

Shawn Marion

2006

11.8

Charles Barkley

1996

11.6

Shawn Marion

2005

11.3

Charles Barkley

1994

11.2

Charles Barkley

1995

11.1

To find the game in which the Phoenix Suns grabbed the most rebounds in franchise history, you have to go all the way back to December 10, 1969, when they defeated the Baltimore Bullets, 137-107. This was before offensive and defensive rebounds were tracked separately, so only total rebounds were recorded. The Suns finished with 77 of them, led by franchise great Paul Silas, who corralled 16. Jim Fox added 15, Neal Walk had 13, and Connie Hawkins finished with 11.

Phoenix grabbed 76 rebounds against the Seattle SuperSonics in March 1972 and reached 75 a couple of times in 1971. What’s interesting is that 29 of the 30 best rebounding games in franchise history occurred between 1968 and 1973. The lone exception came in December 1988, when the Suns grabbed 70 against the Denver Nuggets.

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Yes, the NBA was much different back then. It still shows that the Suns haven’t been an elite rebounding team in more than 50 years. That’s right. If you rank every franchise by…

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Publish date : 2026-08-18 12:00:00

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