Valley Suns announced as Phoenix's G League affiliate

Phoenix’s new NBA G League affiliate will be known as the Valley Suns, the team announced in a press release. In addition to revealing the team name, the franchise revealed the Valley Suns’ colors and logo, which can be viewed here.

The Suns ran an online contest that invited fans to submit ideas for the G League team’s name. According to Wednesday’s announcement, more than 12,000 fans submitted ideas, with “dozens” of those respondents suggesting the Valley Suns.

“The Valley Suns is the community’s team and will provide fans an energetic and family-friendly atmosphere while developing aspiring talent on and off the court,” Suns CEO Josh Bartelstein said in a statement. “We’re excited to launch the new G League team with a name and identity chosen by our fans and inspired by the unique desert landscape that we call home.”

The team will play its home games at Mullett Arena at Arizona State University. The facility is about an 11-mile drive from the Footprint Center, where Phoenix plays its home games, so the NBA and G League Suns will have no problem shuttling players back and forth frequently during the season.

The Suns were the last NBA franchise without a G League affiliate. In February, they announced that they’d acquired the right to own and operate an NBAGL team and that it would debut in 2024-25, the first season in which all 30 NBA teams have G League affiliates of their own. The league will have 31 teams in total, including the unaffiliated Mexico City Capitanes.

Phoenix actually had a G League affiliate known as the Northern Arizona Suns from 2016-21, but former team owner Robert Sarver sold the franchise to the Pistons, who relocated it to Michigan and rebranded it as the Motor City Cruise. Current owner Mat Ishbia stated shortly after officially assuming majority control of the Suns in 2023 that re-establishing a G League team was a priority.