​LAS VEGAS – Few figures have shaped Arizona sports as profoundly as Jerry Colangelo. His imprint rests on nearly every milestone of Phoenix’s emergence as a major sports city, and his latest venture feels both thrilling and unsettling for longtime fans. Colangelo has joined the ownership group pursuing an NBA expansion franchise in Las Vegas, per Evan Sidery. On the surface, it reads as another bold project from one of basketball’s most respected executives. But for Suns fans, the story runs far deeper than a prospective league expansion.
Jerry Colangelo has long been inseparable from Phoenix sports. He helped launch the Suns into a flagship, nationally recognized organization and played a pivotal role in bringing Major League Baseball to Arizona, aiding in the birth of the Diamondbacks. The Diamondbacks’ World Series triumph just three seasons after their birth remains a landmark achievement for the region. Colangelo also contributed to bringing NHL hockey to the desert with the Coyotes, an effort that altered the state’s sports landscape and broadened its professional landscape in a way few envisioned.
That legacy is precisely why this moment feels different. Las Vegas has emerged as one of the fastest-growing sports markets in the country, and the prospect of an NBA franchise there feels increasingly inevitable. If expansion comes to pass, the team could swiftly become a divisional or conference foe for Phoenix, creating a unique situation where one of Arizona’s foremost builders of the game helps another city compete at the same level.
Suns owner Mat Ishbia and former owner Jerry Colangelo have shared a notable dynamic as leadership figures with a long history in the state’s basketball ecosystem. When Colangelo is spotted courtside, as he was before a recent game featuring the Grand Canyon University Lopes against the Oklahoma State Cowboys at Mortgage Matchup Center in Phoenix, it’s a reminder of how deeply interwoven he is with the fabric of the Valley’s sports culture. The moment underscores that his influence spans generations—from the team’s early days to the modern era of Phoenix sports prominence.
For Suns fans, there will be a spectrum of emotions. Gratitude for the foundation Colangelo helped build will endure, but the sight of him supporting another franchise so near to home would feel peculiar. This development isn’t about abandoning Arizona; it’s about extending a career grounded in expanding the game’s reach. If Las Vegas joins the NBA, one of Arizona’s founding fathers could soon be helping to author a new chapter for a different city, a reality that few Suns supporters anticipated facing.
The broader implications of Colangelo’s possible Las Vegas involvement go beyond personal allegiance. It would reflect the evolving geography of American professional sports, where market growth and expansion opportunities continually reshape loyalties and legacies. For Phoenix, the narrative remains about resilience, growth, and the ongoing ambition that Colangelo helped ignite more than two decades ago. And for Colangelo himself, the arc suggests a lifelong commitment to growing the game—wherever the platform may be—while leaving a traceable thread that ties the Valley’s sports heritage to a future that could unfold in an entirely different city.