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<\/p>\nPHOENIX \u2013 The breakup and fallout between the Phoenix Suns and Amar\u2019e Stoudemire remains one of the biggest What-Ifs in franchise history. The soon-to-be inducted Naismith Basketball Hall of Famer appeared on the \u201cRoommates Show\u201d with All-Star Jalen Brunson and Josh Hart to discuss the career of Stoudemire.<\/p>\n
The five-time All-Star mentioned what led to the breakup and how then-owner Robert Sarver led to his eventual exit to the New York Kicks in the 2010 offseason.<\/p>\n
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Feb 29, 2024; Phoenix, Arizona, USA; Former Phoenix Suns player Amar\u2019e Stoudemire looks on against the Houston Rockets during the first half at Footprint Center. Mandatory Credit: Joe Camporeale-USA TODAY Sports<\/p>\n
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Stoudemire on breakup with Suns:<\/p>\n
Following the Suns\u2019 heartbreaking 2010 Western Conference Finals exit, Stoudemire wanted to return and give it one more shot towards the Finals. Sarver was concerned of the former Rookie of the Year\u2019s health, trying to put injury clauses in the contract to save the franchise to not paying him. He claims that Sarver told him that he was replaceable, citing Hedo Turkoglu as a possible option.<\/p>\n
That soon led to Stoudemire\u2019s exit to New York, where he would proceed to play 78 games and averaged 25.3 points and 8.2 rebounds. Turkoglu would appeared in 25 games for the Suns before being traded at the deadline for Vince Carter and Marcin Gortat.<\/p>\n
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Oct 22, 2025; Phoenix, Arizona, USA; Phoenix Suns former player Amar\u2019e Stoudemire prior to the game against the Sacramento Kings at the Mortgage Matchup Center. Mandatory Credit: Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images<\/p>\n
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In Sarver\u2019s defense, not that he needs any defending, that first year with the Knicks was the last time Stoudemire was a healthy starter in the league. From 2011-2016, he would appear in 252 games and only start 119 during that span, averaging 11.9 points and 5.5 rebounds.<\/p>\n
Regardless, the breakup hurt the franchise\u2019s reputation with future free agents and star players leading to a dark 2010s. In 2023, Sarver was forced to sell the team to Mat Ishbia, which began the process of the 43-year-old and the Suns making amends. Phoenix retired the number 32 for Stoudemire and added him to the Ring of Honor in 2024.<\/p>\n
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Mar 2, 2024; Phoenix, Arizona, USA; Former Phoenix Suns player Amar\u2019e Stoudemire speaks to the crowd during his Ring of Honor ceremony during the game against the Houston Rockets at Footprint Center. Mandatory Credit: Joe Camporeale-USA TODAY Sports<\/p>\n
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If Stoudemire returns for the 2010-2011 season, could Phoenix actually had made a run and replace the underdog Dallas Mavericks from upsetting the Miami Heat in the Finals? The answer will forever be unknown because of the team not wanting to pay Stoudemire. However, finding out the answer for the 16-year-old breakup seems cathartic enough.<\/p>\n
Get the BEST Phoenix sports insider information, and exclusive content. SIGN UP HERE to unlock our premium content!*Reporter Tanner Tortorella covers general assignment for Burn City Sports. You can follow him on his X account, @TannerTSports<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"PHOENIX \u2013 The breakup and fallout between the Phoenix Suns and Amar\u2019e Stoudemire remains one of the biggest…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":699000,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3791],"tags":[79941,382,7,149,7707,194,288,327,304,4164,41703,189,6,2065,472,4045,62684,12195,477,604,6445,3209,2685],"class_list":{"0":"post-698999","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-phoenix-suns","8":"tag-amar39e-stoudemire","9":"tag-arizona","10":"tag-basketball","11":"tag-dallas-mavericks","12":"tag-hedo-turkoglu","13":"tag-houston-rockets","14":"tag-jalen-brunson","15":"tag-josh-hart","16":"tag-knicks","17":"tag-mandatory-credit","18":"tag-marcin-gortat","19":"tag-miami-heat","20":"tag-nba","21":"tag-phoenix","22":"tag-phoenix-suns","23":"tag-phoenixsuns","24":"tag-ring-of-honor","25":"tag-robert-sarver","26":"tag-sacramento-kings","27":"tag-suns","28":"tag-the-suns","29":"tag-usa","30":"tag-vince-carter"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116350021360174868","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/698999","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=698999"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/698999\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/699000"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=698999"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=698999"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=698999"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}