5 NBA teams from the ’90s that deserve their own sports documentary

Charles Barkley’s Phoenix Suns

Until this current decade of complete disarray and dysfunction, the Phoenix Suns were one of the NBA’s all-time winningest squads. Steve Nash may be the greatest Sun, but Charles Barkley was probably the best player to ever play for the Suns, and his Phoenix tenure from 1992-96 provided more than a few great stories for a “what could’ve been” sports doc.

Barkley’s arrival in ’92 and MVP season immediately transformed the Suns into title contenders, and although they couldn’t quite get past the eventual NBA champions in ’93, ’94 or ’95, they were arguably a few brutal daggers away from winning titles each time.

Sure, a documentary of this nature would be somewhat painful for Suns fans, who’d have to relive backbreakers like John Paxson‘s 3 in Game 6 of the ’93 Finals or Mario Elie‘s “Kiss of Death” to help the Rockets come back from a 3-1 deficit in the ’95 playoffs.

But it’s still certainly a memorable ’90s NBA team, not only for the mercurial Barkley, but also because of Kevin Johnson (an on-court lightning rod whose reputation has taken a substantial hit due to some disturbing off-court controversies), Dan Majerle, Danny Ainge, Tom Chambers, Mark West and Richard Dumas. From a memorable supporting cast to playoff heartbreaks, all the material is here for a compelling and complex NBA documentary.