Phoenix Suns retire Amar'e Stoudemire's No. 32 jersey in Ring of Honor ceremony

Number 32 is officially enshrined in the Phoenix Suns' Footprint Center rafters.

Amar'e Stoudemire had his Suns Ring Of Honor jersey retirement ceremony during halftime of the Phoenix Suns' loss to the Houston Rockets on Saturday night.

“It means everything to me. To see all the work that was put into my career, to be celebrated, it means a lot to me," Stoudemire said to the media after the game.

Known by Suns fans and the NBA community as "STAT" (Standing Tall And Talented), Stoudemire was joined by his family, the team's owner Mat Ishbia and longtime broadcaster Tom Leander, former Suns coach Alvin Gentry, and some of his former teammates including Hall of Famer and fellow Ring of Honor inductees Steve Nash and Shawn Marion as they watched No. 32 hoisted alongside the 11 other former players' retired numbers.

The Suns announced last August that Stoudemire and Marion would be the newest Ring Of Honor additions this season.

It was a moment of truth for not only him, but his family.

“I was out ready to prepare my son’s birthday. And then I got a call saying, ‘Hey, we got some good news for you,’ and I immediately was like, ‘This is the call,’ and it was a moment of just cherishing that time and that phone call. I knew I had to call my children and say, ‘Hey, guess what? Your last name is going to be immortalized,’ and it was a great moment."

Stoudemire was a 6-foot-10 power forward, high-flying lob threat, efficient mid-range shooter, defensive specialist, and four-time All-NBA selection with Nash and Marion. They formed the Suns' core trio during their electrifying Seven Seconds Or Less offense of the early 2000s.

"He gave me my nickname 'Two-Time,'" Nash said about Stoudemire at the podium during the ceremony. That moniker refers to when Nash won two straight MVP awards in 2004 and 2005.

Nash added, "I spent a lot of nights running up and down this floor, going to battle playing together, and I have to tell you, this guy made my life so fun."

The Suns' high-powered offense during that era, with its top-ranked pace, was influential on small-ball offensive schemes and positionless basketball that the current Suns and many other teams have since implemented over the past decade.

Stoudemire explained how his former Suns and New York Knicks coach Mike D'Antoni developed it.

“I think what Coach D’Antoni brought to the table was he saw the versatility in us as players," Stoudemire said. "He saw me as a strong 245-pound power forward, but with the skill and quickness of a small forward. He saw that most centers wouldn’t be able to guard, like this guy’s strong enough to play center, but he’s also quick enough to play forward.

"Let’s utilize that, right? And he saw Shawn Marion as a player who’s a natural small forward, but he can also defend anyone except for centers. Nash was the ultimate floor general. So D'Antoni gets credit because he saw all of that and was able to allow us to be great at what we do, and I think that says a lot about his coaching style.”

In addition to crediting D'Antoni for his career success, Stoudemire also thanked former Suns owner Jerry Colangelo and his son, former general manager Bryan Colangelo, for drafting him in 2002.

Stoudemire was selected by Phoenix as the only high school player in that year's draft, and earned the 2003 Rookie of the Year award. Stoudemire was the first NBA player out of high school to achieve that.

He played the first eight seasons of his 14-year NBA career in Phoenix, and helped make the team a playoff contender for six of those eight. The Suns never made it past the Western Conference finals in three trips during that era, 2005, 2006 and 2010.

Stoudemire left in free agency after that 2009-10 season to sign with New York and played there for the next five seasons, then one season for the Dallas Mavericks, and one more for the Miami Heat during the 2015-16 season, his last in the league.

Kevin Durant shared his memories as an adolescent tracking Stoudemire's early career to being coached by him on Durant's previous team, the Brooklyn Nets. Stoudemire was a player development assistant on Nash's coaching staff there from October 2020 to May 2022.

“Somebody I always followed since I was an eighth grader, ninth grader. So to follow his career and then be coached by him for a year in Brooklyn, it was good being around STAT," Durant said.

"He’s left his mark here in Phoenix and on the NBA as a whole. I love seeing guys get honored and it’s something that’s gonna last for life. He’s gonna be in those rafters forever, and his family can appreciate that, and all his friends, too. It’s amazing what the game of basketball can do.”

Stoudemire shared his own fond memories during his time with the Suns.

“It don’t fade right at this age," Stoudemire said. "I remember everything from the first day I was in high school coming out for pre-draft workouts, to getting drafted, to putting that Phoenix Suns hat on my head at the draft, to playing my first game, to not starting my first ten games and then having a solid rookie year. Then going to the playoffs the following year, like it was a lot of beautiful memories throughout my career.”

Stoudemire finished his tenure as the following: seventh on the Suns' all-time scoring list; third in rebounds, free throws made and attempted; and his scoring average of 21.4 points per game is the franchise's fourth-best ever; countless earth-shattering dunks.

During Stoudemire’s ceremony speech, the devout Jew explained that in Hebrew the numbers three and two conjoined form the word “heart.”

He switched from No. 32 to No. 1 for the 2006-07 season, and donned that for the next nine years before he joined Miami, where he had No. 5.

No. 1 isn’t in the team’s Ring of Honor and is currently worn by Devin Booker.

In Suns history moving forward, 32 is untouchable.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Suns retire Amar'e Stoudemire's No. 32 in Ring of Honor ceremony