Rodney Rogers, a Sun from 1999 to 2002 and a one-of-one presence in franchise history, has passed away. He wore number 54 like nobody else, and heartbreakingly, that’s the age he was when he left us.
Rogers grew up in Durham, North Carolina, and starred at Wake Forest (where his number is retired) before the Denver Nuggets took him ninth overall in the 1993 NBA Draft. He was part of the 1992 Team USA select team that was tasked with preparing the Dream Team for Barcelona, and beat that team in a scrimmage leading up to the Olympics.
After his time with the Nuggets and Clippers, Rogers hit the open market. Phoenix needed someone who could bring real muscle inside, someone who could score through contact, someone with the kind of versatility that changes the geometry of a game.
“Rodney was one of the few available players, we thought could give us all of those things,” Suns president and GM Bryan Colangelo said at the time. “We knew he wasn’t entirely happy with his situation in Los Angeles, and we were one of the few teams lucky enough to be in the running for him. And since he was coming off a tough year, we thought he’d be motivated to do a better job here.”
When he arrived in Phoenix in 1999, he brought power, touch, and a spark the team leaned on. He averaged 13.8 points per game and earned the NBA Sixth Man award in 2000. Rogers was one of four Suns to ever win the award (Eddie Johnson, Danny Manning, and Barbosa being the others). He would average 12.9 points in 214 games played in Phoenix, only 17 of those coming in a starting capacity.
He was later part of the deal, along with Tony Delk, that helped the Suns acquire Joe Johnson in 2002, a move that shaped the next era of the franchise. He would continue to play until retiring in 2005.
Shortly after his retirement, in 2008, Rogers was involved in an ATV accident in his home state of North Carolina. The crash left him paralyzed from the shoulders down, a life-altering moment that would test his strength in ways basketball never could.
Rodney Rogers gave Phoenix toughness, skill, and heart. We remember him for all of it.
