Top 100 NBA Players: #90 - Amar'e Stoudemire

Amar'e Stoudemire

Teams

Phoenix Suns - 2002-10

New York Knicks - 2010-15

Dallas Mavericks - 2015

Miami Heat - 2015-16

Playoffs

Appearances - 10 (2003,2005,2007,2008,2010,2011,2012,2013,2015,2016)

Conference Finals - 2 (2005,2010)

NBA Finals - 0

Championships - 0

Awards and Honors

Rookie of the Year - 2003

All-NBA First Team - 1 (2005,2007)

All-NBA Second Team - 4 (2005,2007,2008,2010,2011)

*(actual in bold, deserved in italics)

All-Time Ranks

Field Goal Percentage - #39

Total Blocks - #88

Points Per Game - #100

League Leads

Total Points (#3-2005, #4-2008, #5-2011)

Field Goal Percentage (#2-2005, #5-2007,2008)

Points Per Game (#5-2005,2008)

Total Blocks (#5-2008)

Amar'e Stoudemire came to the NBA straight out of high school after averaging 29 points and 15 rebounds per game as a senior, and he was the only high school player drafted in the first round in 2002 when the Phoenix Suns took him with the 9th overall pick. 

His rookie season was very good, with averages of 13.5 points and 8.8 rebounds, which earned him the Rookie of the Year award narrowly over Yao Ming, making him the first-ever to go straight from high school to the NBA Rookie of the Year. He made big improvements on those numbers in his second year, scoring 20.6 points per game in his second season, but a lackluster record cause the team to shake up its roster.

That change, highlighted by the addition of Steve Nash, turned out to be a great thing for Amar'e. He averaged a career-high 26 points per game, plus 8.9 rebounds while shooting 55.9% from the field, which was a huge improvement over his first two seasons. He made the All-NBA Second Team, the team had the #1 seed in the playoffs, and they reached the Conference Finals, where they fell to the Spurs despite Amar'e averaging 37 points per game in the series.

During the following preseason, it was discovered that Stoudemire had cartilage damage in his knee that would require surgery. He was supposed to miss about half of the season, but when he did make a comeback in February, it was clear that he had come back too soon, and he was shut down for the remainder of the season to continue his rehab.

He came back at full health in the next season, and he finished his comeback season with averages of 20.4 points and 9.6 rebounds, earning him a spot on the All-NBA First Team. The team again fell to the Spurs in the playoffs in a controversial series, with Stoudemire being suspended for game 5 after he stood up off the bench when his teammate Steve Nash was flagrantly fouled.

Amar'e remained a superstar for the next several years, but was forced to miss significant time again in 2009, when he was hit in the eye and suffered a detached retina that required eye surgery. He wore goggles on the court for the rest of his career. He returned for one last season in Phoenix, again leading them to the Conference Finals, where they fell to the Lakers.

Stoudemire signed with New York as a free agent in the offseason, and put up similar numbers to what he had for years in Phoenix during his first season as a Knick, which the exception of his field goal percentage, which dropped to .502, his lowest since his second season. New York did make the playoffs that year, but fell in the first round after Stoudemire hurt his back and was not at full strength.

Back issues continued to plague him through the next season, and in 2012-13 he had multiple knee issues that caused him to miss most of the season, and had him coming off the bench instead of starting when he was in the lineup. Over the next couple seasons, even while he was relatively healthy, he continued to function as a sixth man, and he and the team eventually decided to part ways midway through the 2014-15 season.

He retired from the NBA after the 2016 season, even though he was only 33 years old. He still played professionally in Israel and China over the next few years, even winning the Finals MVP in Israel in 2020 before retiring for good.

Stoudemire is another player whose promising career was derailed by injuries, and his first major injury couldn't have come at a worse time, just as he was establishing himself as one of the best players in the league. He still managed to come back and play at a superstar level for several more years, but no one knows what levels he may have reached if he remained healthy. Still, he played at such a high level for the better part of a decade that he has earned this spot as one of the best players in the history of the league.