This Suns player beat David Thompson in a head-to-head slam dunk contest that was part of a special series on national TV.
He is ...?
Larry Nance?
Good guess, but no cigar.
Okay, I'm gonna guess that this was tied to the season-long dunk contest that they'd show at halftime of games in 1977. That seems to jibe with Thompson being part of it. Looking at the Suns roster for that year, I think the best bet is probably Ronnie Lee (who was hyper-athletic and would've been young enough to find it fun, probably). Second choice, Ricky Sobers. Outside chance that it was Paul Westphal, although Westy wasn't really known as a super athlete.
Correct on best bet. Ronnie Lee won when Skywalker missed a 360.
The dunk contest clips were featured at halftime of NBA feature games on CBS.
Lee's best dunk had him slamming the ball to the floor at the top of the key, and as the ball bounced near the rim, he caught it and dunked it.
The TV footage was cool -- the ball floated into view, then a second later, Lee flies in drops it through.
Lee was a joy to watch.
Alvan Adams was the other Suns participant in the slam dunk competition that year (which they featured weekly at halftime) but he was eliminated in the first round when he was a no-show (probably due to an injury).
CBS then switched to a H.O.R.S.E. competition the next year which was won by Paul Westphal. Westphal won the final round when Pete Maravich was out due to a knee injury.
Author of The Basketball Draft Fact Book: A History of Professional Basketball's College Drafts
Available from Scarecrow Press at - https://rowman.com/ISBN/9780810890695
Feel free to post more trivia questions if you come up with them. I'm probably going to limit myself to a couple every weekend.
Last edited by The Bobster on Wed Dec 10, 2025 4:42 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Author of The Basketball Draft Fact Book: A History of Professional Basketball's College Drafts
Available from Scarecrow Press at - https://rowman.com/ISBN/9780810890695
How many points did the Suns score in the first quarter of their first game as the Phoenix Suns?
The Suns scored 41 points in the first quarter on the way to a 116-107 win over the Seattle Supersonics in the first regular season game for the franchise, Oct. 18, 1968.
Gail Goodrich was the Suns' leading scorer, with 27. He also led in assists, with 10.
George Wilson had 19 rebounds.
As you may know, Devin Booker holds the all-time record for most points by a Phoenix Suns player in a game, with 70 points, scored on 3/24/2017. In fact, Book has 7 of the Suns' top 10 individual scoring performances by a player! Who are the other two players who have at least one entry in the top-10 individual scoring performances?
Bonus question: Since 1/1/2000, Four players other than Booker have had a scoring performance in the Suns' top 20 all-time individual scoring performances. Who are these four players?
