1998–99 Phoenix Suns season

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The 1998–99 Phoenix Suns season was the 31st season for the National Basketball Association's Phoenix Suns. The team finished tied for third in the Pacific division with a record of 27–23 in the shortened lockout season. Head coach Danny Ainge returned for his third season. The sixth-seeded Suns made the playoffs for the 11th consecutive season before being swept in the first round to the third-seeded and Pacific winner-Portland Trail Blazers, three games to zero. All home games were played in America West Arena.

Starting point guard Jason Kidd finished the regular season leading the league in assists per game at 10.8. Three Suns would average 16 points or more per game, with Tom Gugliotta notching 17, Kidd 16.9 and Clifford Robinson at 16.4 per game. Kidd led the league in total minutes played and was third in total steals, before being selected to both the All-NBA and All-Defensive First Teams.

Offseason

NBA Draft

This was the first year in franchise history that the Suns had no draft picks. Their first-round pick (which turned into Tyronn Lue) was traded to the Denver Nuggets the previous year in the Antonio McDyess deal^[1], and their second-round pick (which turned into Greg Buckner) was traded to the Dallas Mavericks in 1996 in the Jason Kidd deal.^[2]

Roster

Phoenix Suns roster
Players	Coaches
Pos. # Nat. Name Height Weight DOB (Y-M-D) From 1.5 !G 12 USA ! Bailey, Toby 78 !6 ft 6 in (1.98 m) 213 lb (97 kg) 1975–11–19 UCLA 1.5 !G 4 USA ! Brown, Gerald 76 !6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) 210 lb (95 kg) 1975–07–28 Pepperdine 1.5 !G 3 USA ! Chapman, Rex 76 !6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) 185 lb (84 kg) 1967–10–05 Kentucky 4.0 !F 8 USA ! Garrity, Pat 81 !6 ft 9 in (2.06 m) 238 lb (108 kg) 1976–08–23 Notre Dame 4.0 !F 24 USA ! Gugliotta, Tom 82 !6 ft 10 in (2.08 m) 240 lb (109 kg) 1969–12–19 North Carolina State 1.5 !G 32 USA ! Kidd, Jason 76 !6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) 205 lb (93 kg) 1973–03–23 California 6.0 !C 35 USA ! Kleine, Joe 83 !6 ft 11 in (2.11 m) 255 lb (116 kg) 1962–01–04 Arkansas 1.5 !G 2 USA ! Livingston, Randy 76 !6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) 209 lb (95 kg) 1975–04–02 LSU 6.0 !C 13 AUS ! Longley, Luc 86 !7 ft 2 in (2.18 m) 265 lb (120 kg) 1969–01–19 New Mexico 5.5 !F/C 15 USA ! Manning, Danny 82 !6 ft 10 in (2.08 m) 230 lb (104 kg) 1966–05–17 Kansas 4.0 !F 21 USA ! McCloud, George 78 !6 ft 6 in (1.98 m) 205 lb (93 kg) 1967–05–27 Florida State 4.0 !F 20 SLO ! Milič, Marko  78 !6 ft 6 in (1.98 m) 235 lb (107 kg) 1977–05–07 Slovenia 4.0 !F 34 USA ! Morris, Chris 80 !6 ft 8 in (2.03 m) 210 lb (95 kg) 1966–01–20 Auburn 5.5 !F/C 30 USA ! Robinson, Clifford 82 !6 ft 10 in (2.08 m) 225 lb (102 kg) 1966–12–16 Connecticut	Head coach Danny Ainge (Brigham Young) Assistant coach(es) Frank Johnson (Wake Forest) Roger Reid (Weber State) Scott Skiles (Michigan State) Athletic trainer(s) Joe Proski (Montana State) Aaron Nelson (Iowa State) Strength and conditioning coach(es) Robin Pound (Michigan State) Legend (C) Team captain (DP) Unsigned draft pick (FA) Free agent (S) Suspended Injured

Depth chart

Pos.	Starter	Bench	Reserve	Inactive
C	Luc Longley	Danny Manning	Joe Kleine
PF	Tom Gugliotta	Pat Garrity
SF	Clifford Robinson	Chris Morris		Marko Milič
SG	Rex Chapman	George McCloud		Toby Bailey
PG	Jason Kidd	Randy Livingston	Gerald Brown

Regular season

Standings

Playoffs

Game log

Awards and honors

Week/Month

• Jason Kidd was named Player of the Month for April.
• Jason Kidd was named Player of the Week for games played April 12 through April 18.

All-Star

All-Star weekend was cancelled due to the 1998–99 NBA lockout.

Season

• Jason Kidd was named to the All-NBA First Team. Kidd also finished fifth in MVP voting.
• Jason Kidd was named to the All-Defensive First Team.
• Clifford Robinson finished seventh in Defensive Player of the Year voting, and finished tenth in Most Improved Player voting.
• Jason Kidd led the league in assists per game with a 10.8 average, and total assists with 539.
• Jason Kidd led the league in minutes played with 2060.

Player statistics

Season

† - Minimum 183 field goals made.
^ - Minimum 34 three-pointers made.
# - Minimum 76 free throws made.

Playoffs

^ - Minimum 5 three-pointers made.
# - Minimum 10 free throws made.

References

• Standings on Basketball Reference