Jason Richardson spent 14 seasons in the NBA, during which time he made a name for himself as a great two-way player and somebody who could shoot from the outside and dunk with the best of them.
However, team success is not something he found often, as he spent most of his career on mediocre teams. So, to no surprise, he cherishes the year his team was in contention. That is exactly what happened to him after he was traded to the Phoenix Suns in 2008.
“The time in Phoenix was amazing, man,” Richardson said. “That was some of my best memories as a team — basketball — ’cause we won.”
The Suns were going through a change
When Richardson joined the Suns, the team was in a strange place. The high-octane “Seven Seconds or Less” era was ending, but the culture that Mike D’Antoni, Steve Nash, and the rest of that group built was still alive.
He loved playing with veterans like Shaquille O’Neal, Grant Hill and especially Nash — guys who didn’t just talk about winning but lived it.
“Just seeing guys like Shaq, one of the most dominant players ever, but also one of my favorite teammates — and one of the nastiest teammates I know,” Richardson said. “Then you had Steve, who’d already won two MVPs, and you wanted to see how he worked. He’d come in two hours before practice, already dripping sweat.”
That kind of commitment left an impression. Richardson had always relied on athleticism and effort, but being around players like Nash and Hill showed him that greatness was about more than natural talent.
“That’s when I realized guys at that level, even with all the God-given ability in the world, still put in the work because they want to be the best ever,” he said.
Phoenix made a run
The 2009–10 Suns were one of the most fun teams of that era. They were deep, selfless and built around a free and disciplined style of basketball. They played fast, moved the ball, and genuinely enjoyed being around each other.
For Richardson, it was the first time he didn’t feel pressure to do everything himself.
“Guys wanted to win, man. That was it,” he said. “Nobody cared who got the credit. It was basketball the way it’s supposed to be played.”
That team went all the way to the Western Conference Finals before losing to Kobe Bryant and the Lakers, but it didn’t feel like a failure. It felt like validation — proof that chemistry, work ethic and trust could still win in a league that was already changing fast.
Richardson says that the experience stuck with him long after he left Phoenix. The Suns reminded him what it meant to love the game again.
“You realize greatness isn’t just about how you play,” he said. “It’s about how you prepare and how you show up for your teammates. That team had that.”
When he looks back now, it’s not the highlight dunks or big scoring nights that stand out; it’s the mornings when Nash was already in the gym, the road trips and the feeling that everyone was pulling in the same direction.
Phoenix was where Richardson learned that the best basketball memories don’t always come from individual success — sometimes, they come from simply being part of the right group of guys and playing the right way.