| Den Helder Suns | |
| Leagues: | BNXT League |
| Folded: | --> |
| Arena: | Sporthal Sportlaan |
| Capacity: | 1,000 |
| Location: | Den Helder, Netherlands |
| Colors: | Blue, Black, White, Gold |
| President: | James Meijer |
| Coach: | Peter van Noord |
| Retired Numbers: | 1 (5) |
| H Body: | 0D6CB7 |
| H Pattern B: | _blacksides |
| H Shorts: | 0D6CB7 |
| H Pattern S: | _blacksides |
| A Body: | FFFFFF |
| A Pattern B: | _bluesides |
| A Shorts: | FFFFFF |
| A Pattern S: | _bluesides |
| 3 Body: | FEB130 |
| 3 Pattern B: | _blacksides |
| 3 Shorts: | FEB130 |
| 3 Pattern S: | _blacksides |
The Den Helder Suns are a professional basketball club based in Den Helder, Netherlands. The club was founded in 2016 and currently plays in the BNXT League. The team has played at the highest domestic level since years. The Suns play their home games in the Sporthal Sportlaan, which has a capacity of 1,000 people.
After the bankruptcy of the Netherlands' professional BV Den Helder team during the 2013–14 season, a professional basketball representative team from Den Helder was missing for three seasons. In 2016, the Suns organisation was founded with the goal of making a return to the Dutch Basketball League (DBL). On June 30, 2017, Den Helder Suns announced it would return to the highest level in the 2017–18 season.[1] On July 14, 2017, the Suns announced "Peter van Noord head coach Den Helder Suns."[2]
In its first DBL season, Suns finished in the eight place of the regular season, above last-placed BAL. Captain Tjoe de Paula, who played for different clubs from Den Helder before, got his number retired on 19 April 2018.
Since the 2021–22 season, the Suns play in the BNXT League, in which the national leagues of Belgium and the Netherlands have been merged.[3]
| Playoff berth | ||
| ROY | DBL Rookie of the Year | |
| U23 | DBL MVP Under 23 |
| Season | Tier | League | Regular season | National Playoffs | NBB Cup | BNXT Playoffs | Head coach | Individual awards | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Finish | Played | Wins | Losses | Win% | ||||||||
| Den Helder Suns | ||||||||||||
| 2017–18 | 1 | DBL | 8th | 34 | 6 | 28 | – | Quarterfinals | – | Peter van Noord | Boyd van der Vuurst de Vries (ROY) | |
| 2018–19 | 1 | DBL | bgcolor=#bce8e8 | 5th | 34 | 12 | 22 | Lost quarter-finals (Donar), 0–2 | Eightfinals | Boy van Vliet (ROY) | ||
| 2019–20 | 1 | DBL | 7th | 23 | 7 | 16 | – | Semifinalist | – | |||
| 2020–21 | 1 | DBL | bgcolor=#bce8e8 | 6th | 21 | 9 | 12 | Lost quarterfinals (Donar), 158–188 | First Round | Boyd van der Vuurst de Vries (U23) | ||
| 2021–22 | 1 | BNXT League | 20th | 30 | 8 | 22 | – | Quarterfinals | Lost first round (Limburg United), 163–203 | – | ||
On 19 April 2018, Suns retired its first number as Tjoe de Paula was honored, who played for BV Den Helder during the periods 2001–2003, 2004–2006, 2008–2009 and 2017–18.
The following players were the leading scorers for Den Helder in each DBL season:[5]
| Season | Name | PPG | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2017–18 | Tjoe de Paula | 14.8 | |
| 2018–19 | Boy van Vliet | 14.4 | |
| 2019–20 | Yarick Brussen | 13.1 | |
| 2020–21 | Boyd van der Vuurst de Vries | 14.7 | |
| 2021–22 | Ben Kovac | 16.3 |