The 2015–16 Phoenix Suns season was the Phoenix Suns' 48th season in the NBA. It was their first season where the arena's new name was Talking Stick Resort Arena, having played there since the 1992–93 season, when it used to be called the America West Arena and then later on, the U.S. Airways Center. The Suns failed to qualify for the playoffs for the sixth straight season.
Key dates May 19, 2015: The NBA draft lottery took place. May 29, 2015: The Suns reassigned assistant coach Mark West's back into the front office as a director of player relations, promoted Corey Gaines as a full-time assistant coach again, hired Bakersfield Jam coach Nate Bjorkgren as a new assistant coach for player development, fired Kenny Gattison as an assistant coach by not renewing his contract, and fired director of player personnel John Treloar. June 3, 2015: Former NBA player and Austin Spurs assistant coach Earl Watson was announced as one of the newest player development assistant coaches. June 10, 2015: President of Basketball Operations Lon Babby announced that after his free agency stint in July, he would step down from his position and take on a new role as a senior adviser. June 17, 2015: Danny Granger exercised his player option with the team so he could play out the rest of his contract. June 25, 2015: The 2015 NBA draft took place at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York; Phoenix selects Kentucky University's shooting guard Devin Booker with their 13th pick and trades their 44th pick (Kentucky University's Andrew Harrison) to the Memphis Grizzlies in exchange for back-up power forward Jon Leuer. June 27, 2015: Phoenix announces that former Villanova University player and Austin Spurs assistant coach Jason Fraser accepted the last open player development assistant coach role for the team. June 30, 2015: The Morris twins complete their first mandated court appearance after their situation with Eric Hood in January this past season. They were projected to meet again on August 3, 2015, in Arizona. July 1, 2015: The NBA free agency period began; Brandon Knight agreed to a 5-year, $70 million offer that was hinted earlier on in June to stay with the Suns; Dallas Mavericks center Tyson Chandler also agreed to be in Phoenix as well for a 4-year, $52 million offer. July 2, 2015: The Suns traded small forwards Marcus Morris, Danny Granger, and Reggie Bullock to the Detroit Pistons in exchange for the Pistons' 2020 second round selection. July 8, 2015: Phoenix acquired CSKA Moscow shooting guard Sonny Weems on a two-year deal (second year being a team option) worth a total of $5.8 million; Phoenix also got point guard Ronnie Price back on a one-year deal worth $1.5 million. July 9, 2015: Teams could sign, trade, extend, and even release players to their own accord, such as signing Tyson Chandler on his contract; Phoenix also agreed to a one-year deal worth $5.5 million with Brooklyn Nets power forward Mirza Teletović after he was released from them. July 17, 2015: The Suns re-signed point guard Brandon Knight and signed power forward Mirza Teletović and guards Sonny Weems and Ronnie Price; Phoenix also waived point guard Jerel McNeal's contract before it became fully guaranteed, even though the Suns' Summer League wasn't over yet. July 19, 2015: T. J. Warren earned All-NBA First Team Las Vegas Summer League Honors for his performance during the 2015 NBA Summer League. July 23, 2015: News was leaked that the Suns would reveal a new black alternate jersey for road matches only. Further information also revealed that the Suns would get a flexible, updated silhouette for a different alternative jersey. July 30, 2015: The Suns announced changes to their coaching staff and front office that includes the recent announcement of Bakersfield Jam general manager Bubba Barrage as the team's newest Director of Player Personnel and Antonio Williams as the newest scout, replacing the initial scouting role held by Ronnie Lester. August 1, 2015: Lon Babby stepped down from his old president of basketball operations role and took on the team's senior adviser role; Ryan McDonough then took on that role as well. August 3, 2015: Markieff Morris and his traded brother were scheduled to return to Phoenix to complete their second mandated court appearance with the Eric Hood case. However, neither brother showed up and their attorneys asked for their court appearance that day to be waived. As a result, their next pre-trial conference was delayed to September 16, 2015. August 12, 2015: The NBA announced all team schedules for the 2015–16 season, with the Suns opening their season on October 28, 2015, against the Dallas Mavericks, Tyson Chandler's former team. August 24, 2015: The Suns announced that they would put their superstar point guard Steve Nash into the Phoenix Suns Ring of Honor on their October 30, 2015 game against the Portland Trail Blazers, which was also rookie Devin Booker's 19th birthday. September 8, 2015: The Phoenix Suns revealed their newest black alternate jerseys, updated their orange alternate jersey, revealed their updated court design (with the main feature showcasing that the team replaced the "SUNS" ambigram with their old Sunburst logo similar to what they had during the 1990s), and unveiled their new Civic Pride "We Are PHX" movement to the media. The event included Kentucky University alumni Eric Bledsoe, rookie Devin Booker, Archie Goodwin, and Brandon Knight, as well as small forward P. J. Tucker, the newly acquired power forward Jon Leuer, coach Jeff Hornacek, Suns president Jason Rowley, and Phoenix mayor Greg Stanton; the league also fines Markieff Morris $10,000 due to his trade demand comments he's made throughout the past month or two. September 16, 2015: The Morris twins requested a new grand jury as a new mandated appearance after missing their August meeting. Both sides had to have written arguments for and against a new grand jury to precise over the twins' case. Their next meeting took place on October 15, 2015, although neither appeared in court due to their respective obligations to the Suns and Pistons. If their request was denied, the earliest next court date could be November 5, 2015; otherwise, the case would be held back all the way until May 31, 2016. The Suns' signing of Cory Jefferson (and other training camp invitees) became official that day. September 28, 2015: The deadline for all signed players to report to their teams took effect as training camp commenced in Flagstaff; Markieff Morris was the last player to show up for the team when everyone else had been training with each other for at least two weeks. October 3, 2015: The Suns concluded their training camp practices before the start of the pre-season by having a friendly match between themselves at the Veterans Memorial Coliseum. Team MacLeod barely beat out Team Cotton by the final of 67–66. October 26, 2015: The player options of center Alex Len, shooting guard Archie Goodwin, and small forward T. J. Warren get picked up for the 2016–17 NBA season. October 28, 2015: The Suns started the regular season with a home game against Tyson Chandler's former team, the Dallas Mavericks; Devin Booker made his debut as the first player in the NBA at 18 years old who also had at least one year of college experience. October 30, 2015: Steve Nash became the 10th player to enter the Phoenix Suns Ring of Honor during the second home game of the season against the Portland Trail Blazers; Devin Booker turns 19 years old during the team's first victory of the season. November 25, 2015: The Suns sign Tucson, Arizona native Bryce Cotton on a one-year deal after injuries to back-up point guard Ronnie Price, as well as to starting point guard Eric Bledsoe occurred earlier in the season. December 15, 2015: The starting point for signed free agents to be traded to different teams commences. December 26, 2015: Eric Bledsoe tore his left meniscus and is out for the rest of the season. December 27, 2015: The Suns fired assistant coaches Jerry Sichting and Mike Longabardi for their poor performances throughout the month of December. January 5, 2016: Teams can sign players for 10-day contracts. January 6, 2016: After winning their first game of the new year, the Suns decided to waive away the non-guaranteed deals of Cory Jefferson and Bryce Cotton. January 7, 2016: The Suns signed Lorenzo Brown, former college teammate of T. J. Warren's, to a 10-day contract. January 15, 2016: Contracts for players signed earlier in free agency for teams over the salary cap are now fully guaranteed for the season. January 18, 2016: The Suns re-signed Lorenzo Brown to his second 10-day contract. January 21, 2016: Phoenix re-signed former Suns player Cory Jefferson to a 10-day contract after all of the previous power forwards wound up injured. January 23, 2016: In a close 98–95 victory over the Atlanta Hawks, Tyson Chandler became the first Phoenix Suns player to record multiple games of 20+ rebounds with the team, tied Paul Silas' record for rebounds in one game with 27, and set a new offensive rebounding record with 13, beating out both Charles Barkley and Curtis Perry there in the process. January 26, 2016: With a 113–103 loss, the Suns would earn the dubious honor to be the only team to get swept by the 76ers who would finish 10–72, one of the worst seasons in NBA history. January 28, 2016: The Suns decided to not sign Lorenzo Brown for the entire year, instead giving Jordan McRae (who held the highest-scoring effort in D-League history) a 10-day contract. February 1, 2016: Head coach Jeff Hornacek was fired after a generally awful season and replaced by assistant coach Earl Watson for the rest of the season; Bob Hill (a former head coach for the San Antonio Spurs and Seattle SuperSonics) took the vacant assistant coach role left by Watson; rookie Devin Booker was announced as a participant for the three-point shootout. February 2, 2016: Before the beginning of Phoenix's 7-game home stand (9 in 10 games) in February, it was announced that small forward T. J. Warren would be out for the rest of the season due to a broken foot he had sustained during a game against the Cleveland Cavaliers in January. February 5, 2016: The Suns signed Orlando Johnson to a 10-day contract days after finding out small forward T. J. Warren would be out for the rest of the season. February 8, 2016: Phoenix re-signed Jordan McRae to his second 10-day contract moving forward. February 10, 2016: Devin Booker was announced as a participant for All-Star Friday's NBA Cares Special Olympics Unified Basketball Game. February 11, 2016: It was announced, a day before the actual event began, that rookie Devin Booker was a contestant for the Rising Stars Challenge after Philadelphia 76ers sophomore power forward/center Nerlens Noel injured himself before the event took place. February 12, 2016: The NBA All-Star Weekend taking place in Toronto, Ontario, Canada began. February 18, 2016: The NBA trade deadline takes full effect; Phoenix traded away Markieff Morris to the Washington Wizards in exchange for DeJuan Blair, Kris Humphries, a top-9-protected first-round draft pick, and a $1.56 million traded player exception; the Suns also waived Orlando Johnson to make room for their newest players. February 20, 2016: The Suns signed former Philadelphia 76ers and Idaho Stampede point guard Phil Pressey to a 10-day contract after deciding not to sign Jordan McRae for the rest of the year. February 22, 2016: The Suns waived DeJuan Blair. February 24, 2016: The Suns signed former Dallas Mavericks shooting guard John Jenkins to a three-year contract (two years non-guaranteed) two days after deciding to waive DeJuan Blair from the roster.