Phoenix Suns Trading Cards: 2000s
1 / 46A New Century in Flux For hoops cards, the 2000s were a half-reverse of the previous decade. They started loud and fun – and futuristic with Y2K and all that – before doing their best to wrench themselves back to stately and professional. Trading card companies merged, split up and merged again. The biggest victim was Skybox, that beloved wayward artist which captured our imaginations and every color of the palette last decade. In the new century, they were here, gone, then briefly here again before disappearing for good. Print products were dying, so the only way to stay alive was to 1) band together (i.e. buy each other out) and/or 2) come up with as many special/unique creations as possible. Card inserts – autographs, jersey pieces, etc. – became a fad. So, too, did the overwhelming flood of minimally different subsets. Standard sets were complemented by cooler-sounding and barely altered versions of themselves. “Gold” and “chrome” were especially popular. As we did with the 1990s, we’ll be zooming in on the standard sets of each major card company. There will also be an “editor’s pick” for each year, though Suns.com will be highlighting a random specialty card every week during the upcoming season. We hope you’ve enjoyed looking at the history of the Phoenix Suns as depicted by trading cards over the years.