Valley Suns FAQ: Phoenix Suns announce G League affiliate

The Phoenix Suns officially announced the branding of their G League affiliate, the Valley Suns on Wednesday. Suns broadcaster Tom Leander, CEO Josh Bartelstein and G League president Shareef Abdur-Rahim presented a video introducing the new affiliate, which will begin its season in November for the 2024-25 season.

From the location of home games to where the Valley Suns will practice to how the Suns arrived on the branding and logo, here are the answers to some frequently asked questions for Phoenix’s new G League affiliate.

How did they land on the Valley Suns name?

The Suns held an online contest offering fans a chance to name the new G League affiliate, and wound up sticking with the “Valley Suns.” According to a press release, they are “paying homage to how the Phoenix Suns were named in 1968.”

More than 12,000 fans submitted names for the team, including dozens submitting the final choice, Valley Suns.

“Yeah, we live in the Valley,” Bartelstein explained. “The Suns name is so — like, people love the Suns. I think the Valley, with all that’s happened in the past, had a lot to it. And we let the community submit names, and ‘Valley Suns’ was the most prominent name submitted.”

What does the Valley Suns branding look like?

Here’s what the Valley Suns logo looks like:

From the press release, the Valley Suns logo “features flickering ‘V’ and ‘S’ flames coming together to create a spherical Sun-shaped icon. The triangles in the logo portray the rising peaks that surround the Valley of the Sun and symbolize elevation and ascending to reach the top. The team’s orange and purple colors were inspired by the Phoenix Suns and Phoenix Mercury, aligning the Valley basketball franchises.”

“We liked it,” Bartelstein said. “We started messing with the graphics and I think it turned out really well. So all that stuff was intentional.”

Is there a hype video?

Of course there’s a hype video!

The rise starts here.

Learn more ➡️ https://t.co/ZdbTPb8RRn pic.twitter.com/AXTLEvD0lv

— Valley Suns (@GLeagueSuns) May 22, 2024

How important is it for the Suns to have a G League affiliate?

Pretty important! After former owner Robert Sarver sold the Suns’ former G League affiliate, the Northern Arizona Suns, to Detroit, it wasn’t long before the Suns became the only NBA organization that didn’t have its own G League affiliate.

Josh Bartelstein was part of the Detroit organization that bought the Suns’ G League affiliate, but now he can say he helped bring the G League back to Phoenix.

“Ironically enough, I was the one on the other side buying the team from the Suns and getting it to Detroit, and now three years later, I’m here,” Bartelstein laughed. “It’s really, really important. I mean, the G-League is a staple of many NBA franchises.”

The G League has slowly gained popularity among basketball fans and importance for NBA teams to develop younger talent. As Abbur-Rahim pointed out, the G League is becoming a place that helps develop the stars of the future.

“Our league has never been higher as it relates to talent,” he said. “I think this year, we peaked out with 60 percent of NBA players having G League experience. Over the last two years, we’ve had close to 100 draft picks that have played, first-round draft picks that have played in our league. And then this past year, half of the lottery picks from the 2023 NBA Draft played in our league. So I say that to say that when the community here in the Valley come out to see the Valley Suns, they’re seeing the NBA stars of the future.”

Between the Suns, Phoenix Mercury and now the Valley Suns, Bartelstein and owner Mat Ishbia have completed the holy trio of professional basketball teams in the state of Arizona. It’s something Ishbia mentioned on his first day as owner in a one-on-one interview with PHNX Sports, and now the Suns will get their opportunity to utilize an important team-building tool.

“Obviously James Jones and myself have talked about, from day one, the impact the G League can have,” Bartelstein said. “Players on our team from Bol Bol, Grayson Allen and Damion Lee, you’re seeing more and more players start their careers in the G League and grow, learn our system, learn how we want to play it, and one day contribute at the high-up stage of playing in NBA games, NBA playoff games and hopefully winning an NBA championship.”

From two-way contracts to younger players who get drafted by Phoenix to veteran players coming off injury who can use the G League to get some run in before returning to action for the Suns, the existence of a G League affiliate can serve multiple purposes.

The Suns haven’t prioritized using their draft picks on actual players as highly over the last few years, but they still understand the importance of having a G League team for team-building purposes, especially for guys like Saben Lee, Ish Wainright and Udoka Azubuike last year. They also understand its important to invest in as many avenues as possible to build out their roster.

“Having our player development staff be really, really good, but then having the G League as a tool as well to develop young players, two-way players and players that are in the G League,” Bartelstein explained. “So it’s important to us, and with our roster, we gotta hit on the margins, and hitting on the margins means using the G League.”

Where will the Valley Suns play their home games?

Mullett Arena. The Suns will share the arena with ASU hockey, but Bartelstein didn’t sound concerned about being able to work out any potential scheduling conflicts.

“Yeah, it will be great,” Bartelstein said. “Obviously, the Coyotes leaving makes it a little easier, but we’ll work with Arizona State. In the league, many arenas have hockey and basketball. The leagues work together to have a schedule. So I don’t have a ton of concern about the compressed dates.”

How did they land on Mullett Arena for the Valley Suns?

In their search for an arena for the Valley Suns, the executive team prioritized proximity and finding the right environment for such a team. The Suns’ food and beverage partnership with Oak View Group, who are already partnered with Mullett Arena, made it an even easier choice.

“We wanted to be close,” Bartelstein explained. “You guys know the value of being close. And then as we went around, this will be as good of a facility in the G League. It’s the right size. You don’t want it too big. You want it to have some type of atmosphere, which you’ll have here with 4,500 seats. But the proximity and the partnership of OVG made it seamless and easy, and Arizona State’s been great too.”

As Bartelstein mentioned, having the Valley Suns play in too big of an arena would make games feel empty. Mullett Arena has a healthy number of seats, but will still be able to provide the right type of game-day environment to make G League games more prominent in the Tempe community.

How long is the Valley Suns’ agreement with Mullett Arena for?

When asked about how long the Valley Suns’ agreement with Mullett Arena will last, Bartelstein said,“This is home. We want to be here. We love our partners with Oak View Group. And business-wise, I think that we have a robust business with the Suns and Mercury.”

The Suns would not disclose exact terms, but confirmed it is a multi-year deal.

How important is the proximity of Mullett Arena for the Valley Suns?

Proximity was one of the deciding factors for the Valley Suns to choose Mullett Arena as their location for home games. The last time the Suns had a G League team, those games were in Prescott, a two-hour drive away.

“In Detroit, it was a really important thing to us, and we study it,” Bartelstein said. “If you look at the utilization rate of teams, when they’re outside of two hours, they don’t use it, because it’s just hard. It’s two hours each way, it’s like a chore for the players to get there. A lot of times, it’s not direct flights or long travel. We want to use it. If you’re gonna have it, you might as well use it, and that’s where it being 15, 20 minutes away made a lot of sense for us.”

Even if the G League affiliate doesn’t unearth any developing gems for the Suns, the organization values this type of investment, even if the return on investment isn’t always high. It can serve other purposes, even if the younger, raw prospects don’t pan out into contributors in a future playoff rotation.

“When the season starts, you’re playing every other day, it’s hard to stay in shape, hard to maintain a rhythm,” Bartelstein said. “There’s guys who are hurt, that even if they’re not playing, can practice with the G League team and have them come to our facility. So just being able to maintain a rhythm, stay in shape, build confidence, right? The best way to have confidence is by playing games and having success.

“And also for our veteran players that are banged up or hurt, to have them go down and practice with the team. So we’ll use it a ton, and that’s why being really close to our practice facility was really important to us.”

Will Valley Suns games be televised on Suns Live?

After the Suns started broadcast games on Suns Live last year, it was natural to wonder whether Valley Suns games will follow suit.

“We’re still working through that,” Bartelstein said. “My hope is between streaming and linear, we’ll be able to watch our games, so some combination of that. But I’m confident we’ll be able to pull it off.”

Where will the Valley Suns practice?

The Valley Suns will be playing home games at Mullett Arena, but no details have been provided yet on where they’ll practice.

When asked about whether they’ll practice at the Suns practice facility or somewhere else, Bartelstein provided some insight on where that will be.

“We have an announcement coming on that soon, but my goal for them — and it’s not a goal, it’s happening — is one of the best arenas, which, you’re standing here right now, and they’ll have the best practice situation in the G League as well,” he said.

Stay tuned for more details, but for now, Bartelstein believes having a top-tier arena for home games and a great practice facility will help the Suns attract more talent to their G League affiliate.

“I think it’s a way they recruit players,” he said. “Whether it’s two-way players, guys who have decisions on multiple teams, if you can tell ’em coach [Mike Budenholzer] is gonna see you, James [Jones] is gonna see you, I’m gonna see you, Devin [Booker] and Kevin [Durant] are gonna be able to see you, and you’re living in a great place, they’re gonna pick to want to be here.”

Who will coach the Valley Suns?

The Valley Suns currently don’t have a coaching staff, but that search will begin soon.

“That’s next,” Bartelstein said. “We got Bud locked in as you all saw last Friday, and now we’ll work through that, both front office and coaching staff and make sure that by Summer League we have a lot of things locked in inside through the G-League. Summer League is a huge part of that, right? Looking at players on the other teams’ rosters that you want to have come here. And the expansion of draft is not far away as well.”

The Suns should be diligent in their search, because just like players, the G League can be a gateway to the next big thing on the coaching front as well.

“They’re seeing future NBA head coaches,” Abdur-Rahim said of the G League. “You had eight NBA head coaches that have G League experience this year.”

What will the Community impact look like?

Some basketball fans still look down on the G League, but with home games right near ASU campus in Tempe, the Suns are hoping they’ll be able to continue tapping into the community-building aspect that they value.

“Yeah, 100 percent, college kids, whether it’s internships, coming to work for the Valley Suns, the Suns, the Mercury, I think there’s a natural tie to the university,” Bartelstein said. “It’s a natural tie to Tempe, and just being a really awesome thing for the community.”

Abdur-Rahim pointed out that for many fans, going to a Suns game doesn’t provide everyone the opportunity to interact with megastars like Devin Booker or Kevin Durant. But in a G League environment, basketball fans will be able to do so with the future stars of the game.

“They’re seeing young players that are on the rise,” Abdur-Rahim said. “They get a proximity here at Mullett Arena that you can’t get anywhere else. They’ll be close to the action, they’ll be close to the teams, and as we know with the Suns organization, they’ll have a team that is a part of the community. So it won’t be a team that is on the outskirts and people don’t know. They’ll be able to walk up and touch and know the players here. And I think that’s a really great thing about our league is that you get to know players and staff and people before they get really, really big.”

What does this mean for the Roadrunners?

There’s been a ton of speculation about the future of the Tucson Roadrunners and whether they might end up playing at Mullett Arena next year now that the Arizona Coyotes are gone.

Between ASU Hockey’s schedule and now the Valley Suns, it’s not looking great for the Roadrunners being relocated to the heart of Tempe. ASU has several homestands over the weekends at Mullett Arena, and Bartelstein mentioned weekends as target dates for the Valley Suns.

“Hopefully a lot of weekend dates,” he said. “It’s a family game, it’s a family atmosphere for kids, and we’ll make sure it’s a great show.”

However, PHNX Sports‘ Craig Morgan is reporting that the American Hockey League’s Board of Governors will conduct a vote on May 30 on whether to allow the Roadrunners to play 14 home games at Mullett Arena.

Did anyone win the fan submission contest?

According to the press release, one winner was randomly selected and will receive season tickets to the Valley Suns 2024-25 season.

“I think we’re gonna have a drawing and make sure that people that submitted get tickets and feel special about it,” Bartelstein said. “And they’ll look back in 20 years and be like, ‘Hey, we helped pick that name.'”

Are the Valley Suns on social media yet?

Fans can follow the Valley Suns on Twitter or on Instagram.