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Sure, the Utah Jazz and Phoenix Suns were both non-playoff teams in the Western Conference last season -- but there's more to it than that. And I don't just mean their time zone or their historically similar home jersey colors of purple and white. For one, well, they've both had a lot of the same players play for both franchises. Here's the list of people who have played for Phoenix and New Orleans / Utah (as far as I can tell):
| 1 | Armen Gilliam | 11 | Howard Eisley | 21 | Milt Palacio | ||
| 2 | Brevin Knight | 12 | Jarron Collins | 22 | Otto Moore | ||
| 3 | Brooks Thompson | 13 | Jay Humphries | 23 | Raja Bell | ||
| 4 | Chris Morris | 14 | Jeff Cook | 24 | Randy Livingston | ||
| 5 | Danny Manning | 15 | Jeff Hornacek | 25 | Rich Kelley | ||
| 6 | Danny Schayes | 16 | Jerel McNeal | 26 | Ronnie Price | ||
| 7 | Dee Brown | 17 | Kenny Gattison | 27 | Tim Legler | ||
| 8 | Diante Garrett | 18 | Louis Amundson | 28 | Tom Chambers | ||
| 9 | Gail Goodrich | 19 | Mel Counts | 29 | Tom Gugliotta | ||
| 10 | Gordan Giricek | 20 | Mike Brown | 30 | Trevor Ruffin | ||
| 31 | Truck Robinson | ||||||
| 32 | Tyrone Corbin |
Please note, the list also includes player assets that did not play for both teams, but were involved in trades and at least for a few hours were a Jazzman or Sunshine. (???) And yes, I did this mostly by memory for the Jazz part after cross referencing it against the All-Time Suns roster. And yes (part deux) these two teams are really consanguineous.