Kentucky legend, Rex Chapman, is back on the airwaves. After a relatively quiet 2025, Chapman served as the Phoenix Suns’ color commentator for the team’s last two games against the New Orleans Pelicans on Arizona’s Family Sports Network. He worked alongside longtime Suns play-by-play man, Kevin Ray, and if Twitter/X is any indication, he has been receiving stellar reviews.
This wasn’t the first time Rex called plays made by Devin Booker in real time. Chapman served as the guest color commentator for TNT during Kentucky’s 2015 Final Four game (the one we will not speak of). Six months after that game, his world fell apart.
Since then, Chapman has turned into a social media darling, an official Kentucky pre-game analyst, a podcaster, a CNN TV host, an NCAA tournament studio analyst, and a New York Times bestselling author. Probably more too. KSR showcased his memoir, It’s Hard for Me to Live With Me, last summer. Reading back through that review serves as a good reminder about the wildly impressive yet chaotic life Chapman has led.
Always full of tidbits, Chapman dropped a little Kentucky-adjacent nugget about Suns guard Collin Gillespie during the game on Saturday. He said that Villanova head coach Jay Wright was at an event torecruit McDonald’s All-American Quade Green, who ultimately went to Kentucky. But Gillespie dropped 35 on Green that day, and Wright offered him immediately. Gillespie went on to win a national championship at Villanova, and Green, well, did not.
It is unknown if Chapman’s two games of broadcasting duties are more of a cameo gig or if this is something he will do regularly. Either way, it is good to see him return to Phoenix, where he spent the best years of his career, and get back in the good graces of the franchise.