The 1981–82 Phoenix Suns season was the 14th season for the

Phoenix Suns The Phoenix Suns are an American professional basketball team based in Phoenix, Arizona. They compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA), as a member of the league's Western Conference Pacific Division. The Suns are the only team in t ...

of the

National Basketball Association The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America. The league is composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada) and is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United S ...

. The Suns were in the

playoffs The playoffs, play-offs, postseason or finals of a sports league are a competition played after the regular season by the top competitors to determine the league champion or a similar accolade. Depending on the league, the playoffs may be eithe ...

for the fifth consecutive season, extending a then-franchise record. In the first round,

Denver Denver () is a consolidated city and county, the capital, and most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Its population was 715,522 at the 2020 census, a 19.22% increase since 2010. It is the 19th-most populous city in the Unit ...

was taken down by the Suns, two games to one. Phoenix would find a tougher opponent, however, in the Western Conference Semifinals, getting swept four games to zero by the eventual league champions,

Los Angeles Lakers The Los Angeles Lakers are an American professional basketball team based in Los Angeles. The Lakers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Western Conference Pacific Division. The Lakers play their ...

. The Suns were led by

head coach A head coach, senior coach or manager is a professional at training and developing athletes. They typically hold a more public profile and are paid more than other coaches. In some sports, the head coach is instead called the "manager", as in assoc ...

John MacLeod and played all home games in

Arizona Veterans Memorial Coliseum Arizona Veterans Memorial Coliseum is a 14,870-seat multi-purpose indoor arena in Phoenix, Arizona, located at the Arizona State Fairgrounds. It hosted the Phoenix Suns of the National Basketball Association from 1968 to 1992, as well as indoor ...

Dennis Johnson Dennis Wayne Johnson (September 18, 1954 – February 22, 2007), nicknamed "DJ", was an American professional basketball player for the National Basketball Association's (NBA) Seattle SuperSonics, Phoenix Suns, and Boston Celtics. He was a c ...

again earned

NBA All-Defensive First Team The NBA All-Defensive Team is an annual National Basketball Association (NBA) honor given since the 1968–69 NBA season to the best defensive players during the regular season. The All-Defensive Team is generally composed of ten players in two ...

honors and was the lone

All-Star Game An all-star game is an exhibition game that purports to showcase the best players (the "stars") of a sports league. The exhibition is between two teams organized solely for the event, usually representing the league's teams based on region or div ...

participant from the Suns. Additionally, he led the Suns in scoring with his 19.5 points average, a personal career-high.

Truck Robinson Leonard Eugene "Truck" Robinson (born October 4, 1951) is an American former professional basketball player and coach. He played in the National Basketball Association (NBA) for the Washington Bullets (1974–77), Atlanta Hawks (1977), New Orle ...

was not far behind with his 19.1 average, and paired that with rebounding average of 9.7 a game. Fellow big man

Alvan Adams Alvan Leigh Adams (born July 19, 1954) is an American former professional basketball player. Adams spent his entire career with the Phoenix Suns and retired in 1988 as the second all-time Suns scorer with 13,910 career points. College career Du ...

brought in 7 rebounds and 15 points a contest.

Offseason

NBA draft

Roster

† – Minimum 20 field goals made.
^ – Minimum 10 free throws made.

Transactions

Trades

Free agents

Additions

Subtractions

References

Standings on Basketball Reference
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