Greatest unsung hero in every NBA team’s history

Phoenix Suns: Dan Majerle

When he was with the Phoenix Suns, Dan Majerle was a problem. As this highlight video will show, “Thunder Dan” could finish at the rim, was an underrated passer, played good defense and could knock down threes from Stephen Curry range.

After all that praise, you’d think that Majerle averaged somewhere between 20 and 25 points per game, right? Well, you’d be wrong.

Majerle spent his first eight seasons in Phoenix, but he didn’t reach the peak of his powers until he cracked the starting lineup in his fourth year in the league. He averaged a career-high 17.3 points per game with a 55.1 true shooting percentage during that 1991-92 season, earning his first of three All-Star nods.

Majerle put up similar numbers in the ensuing three seasons, but Charles Barkley and Kevin Johnson’s presence overshadowed his contributions a bit. While Majerle was good, he wasn’t as good as those two perennial All-Stars.

As Majerle aged, he became more of a 3-point specialist through his stops with the Miami Heat and the Cleveland Cavaliers before returning to the Suns for his final NBA season.

But in his prime, he was pretty good. His similarity score lumps him in with a bunch of other “good-but-not-great” players like Mike Bibby, Derek Harper, Mitch Richmond and Joe Dumars.

Like Majerle, all of those players went from being featured secondary stars before taking on lesser roles as their bodies gave way to Father Time. That describes just about every athlete in every sport, but it doesn’t mitigate what they did in their primes. In Phoenix, Majerle was good two-way player who doesn’t get remembered as often as he should.