# Den Helder Suns

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 8 years. The Suns play their home games in the Sporthal Sportlaan, which has a capacity of 1,000 people.

## History

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. On July 14, 2017, the Suns announced "Peter van Noord head coach Den Helder Suns."
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.

## Season by season

Key :
| | Playoff berth |
| ROY | DBL Rookie of the Year |
| U23 | DBL MVP Under 23 |
| Season | Tier | League | Regular season | Regular season | Regular season | Regular season | Regular season | National Playoffs | NBB Cup | BNXT Playoffs | Head coach | Individual awards |
| Season | Tier | League | Finish | Played | Wins | Losses | Win% | National Playoffs | NBB Cup | BNXT Playoffs | Head coach | Individual awards |
| Den Helder Suns |||||||||||||
| 2017–18 | 1 | DBL | 8th | 34 | 6 | 28 | .176 | Did not qualify | Quarterfinals | Did not qualify | Peter van Noord | Boyd van der Vuurst de Vries (ROY) |
| 2018–19 | 1 | DBL | 5th | 34 | 12 | 22 | .353 | Lost quarter-finals (Donar), 0–2 | Eightfinals | Did not qualify | Peter van Noord | Boy van Vliet (ROY) |
| 2019–20 | 1 | DBL | 7th | 23 | 7 | 16 | .304 | Did not qualify | Semifinalist | Did not qualify | Peter van Noord | – |
| 2020–21 | 1 | DBL | 6th | 21 | 9 | 12 | .429 | Lost quarterfinals (Donar), 158–188 | First Round | Did not qualify | Peter van Noord | Boyd van der Vuurst de Vries (U23) |
| 2021–22 | 1 | BNXT League | 20th | 30 | 8 | 22 | .267 | Did not qualify | Quarterfinals | Lost first round (Limburg United), 163–203 | Peter van Noord |
| 2022–23 | 1 | BNXT League | 19th | 28 | 6 | 22 | .214 | Did not qualify | First Round | N/A | Peter van Noord |
| 2023–24 | 1 | BNXT League | 20th | 28 | 5 | 23 | .179 | Did not qualify | First Round | N/A | Daniel Nelson |
| 2024–25 | 1 | BNXT League | TBD | TBD | TBD | TBD | TBD | TBD | TBD | TBD | Paul Vervaeck | |
* 1 2 The 2019–20 season was curtailed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The season finished in March, the Suns played only 23 games.

## Players
### Retired numbers

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.
Den Helder Suns retired numbers :
| No | Nat. | Player | Position | Tenure | Ceremony date |
| 5 | | Tjoe de Paula | G | 2017–2018 | 19 April 2018 |

### Current roster

Note: Flags indicate national team eligibility at FIBA-sanctioned events. Players may hold other non-FIBA nationalities not displayed.

### Notable players

Note: Flags indicate national team eligibility at FIBA-sanctioned events. Players may hold other non-FIBA nationalities not displayed.
* Criteria
* To appear in this section a player must have either:
* Set a club record or won an individual award while at the club
* Played at least one official international match for their national team at any time
* Played at least one official NBA match at any time.
* Tjoe de Paula (1 season: 2017–18)
* Alex Laurent (2 seasons: 2017–2019)
* Leon Williams (1 season: 2019)
* Boy van Vliet (1 season: 2018–19)

### Individual awards

DBL Rookie of the Year
* Boyd van der Vuurst de Vries – 2018
* Boy van Vliet – 2019
DBL MVP Under 23
* Boyd van der Vuurst de Vries – 2018
DBL Most Improved Player
* Stan van den Elzen – 2021

### Top scorers by season

The following players were the leading scorers for Den Helder in each DBL season:
| 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 |

## Head coaches

| Period | Name |
| 2017–2023 | Peter van Noord |
| 2023–2024 | Daniel Nelson |
| 2024–present | Paul Vervaeck |