Phoenix Suns are “Sports' Most Twitter-ific Team”

(Photo by Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images)

The Phoenix Suns won’t be winning an NBA title this year; they couldn’t even manage to make it to the playoffs. The debacle that was the 2008-09 Phoenix Suns season will likely result in drastic changes this offseason that could spell the end of superstars Steve Nash, Shaquille O’Neal, and Amare Stoudemire’s stays in Phoenix.

That doesn’t mean, however, that the team was unsuccessful in all of their endeavors. In fact, there is one title the team captured during the season, “Sports’ Most Twitter-ific Team.”

That’s right, the Suns have more known Tweeters than any other professional sports franchise! Shaquille O’Neal, Steve Nash, Jason Richardson and Alvin Gentry all have and regularly use Twitter accounts.

Shaquille O’Neal (THE_REAL_SHAQ) 730,000+ followers

Shaquille O’Neal is by far sports’ most popular Tweeter, with over 730,000 followers. Shaq tops the next closest athlete, Lance Armstrong by nearly 100,000 followers and is the ninth most popular user on Twitter behind only Ashton Kutcher, CNN, Britney Spears, The Ellen Show, Twitter itself, Barack Obama and Jimmy Fallon.

Shaq has always claimed to be a marketer, and it appears he is succeeding once again. Not only is the “King of Twitteronia” popular, but he is also, in true Diesel fashion, wildly entertaining. While some athletes post rather meaningless tweets like “great win tonight,” the Big Cactus rarely talks about basketball. Instead Shaq shares his daily thoughts, activities and of course, his sense of humor.

By talking about things other than basketball, Shaq enables fans to connect with him on a more personal level, allowing fans to find common ground with him, besides just a mutual love for the game of basketball.

“Started my diet the other day, I haven’t cheated yet, I wanna b a calvin klein underwear model, pls dnt laugh, lol” - THE_REAL_SHAQ 11:55 AM Apr 19th

Steve Nash (the_real_nash) 23,000+ followers

Shaq successfully recruited fellow MVP Steve Nash to join Twitter a few months ago. Unlike his teammate, Nash often talks basketball and is not nearly as active. While Shaq tweets several times a day, Nash tweets on average only a couple times per week. MV-Steve uses his Twitter page to connect with fans, driving them to his personal blog and Facebook page.

Of course, with the Suns’ season ending early Steve appears to have more time on his hands lately:

“My dad just beat me in tennis. He’s 62. He did a triple fist pump on match point. Irritating?! It’s been that kind of season!” – the_real_nash 12:27 PM Apr 17th

Jason Richardson (JRich23) 11,500+ followers

J-Rich tweets about once a week, which is probably a good thing. The last thing we want is for him to get pulled over for tweeting while driving.

“Man its hard watching the playoffs knowing that we should be in it. Back in charlotte trying to plan the rest of my summer” – JRich23 6:22 PM Apr 19th

Alvin Gentry (AlvinGentry) 3,000+ followers

While some coaches are scolding players for tweeting during halftime, Alvin Gentry appears to be a supporter of twitter. Alvin is active but professional, as an NBA coach should be. Alvin even got his daughter Alexis to join Twitter…or did Alexis get Alvin to join?

“@THE_REAL_SHAQ that could have been us. I still feel so bad for u. Thanks for all u did for me.” - AlvinGentry 2:13 PM Apr 18th

While Sports’ Most Twitter-ific Team isn’t the most prestigious title, it does show an effort by the organization to better connect with its fans. Let’s face it, Twitter is exploding and the Suns have always been an organization to embrace two things: technology and their fans.

The title however might not last for long. If either (or both) Steve Nash and Shaquille O’Neal are traded in the offseason the Suns could easily lose the only crown they have left.

For a complete list of all professional athletes on Twitter visit Athletes Who Tweet.

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