Dan Majerle's second act began before his last game

Dan Majerle opened a sports grill in December 1992, while he was still helping the Phoenix Suns chase a championship. His later life in basketball would include broadcasting, an NBA bench and seven seasons running a college program. The business carrying his name began before any of those jobs.

The restaurant gave Majerle a second public role ten years before his NBA retirement. More than three decades after it opened, the company's current biography still identifies him as its owner.

The division of work is also visible. The company names AJ Sulka as president and managing partner, responsible for business operations. Majerle's name connects the business to Phoenix basketball, while the company assigns its operations to a separate executive. An athlete's recognition can attract attention. Serving customers requires work that continues when the game ends.

The player Phoenix remembers

Majerle spent fourteen seasons in the NBA, including eight with Phoenix across two stays. The Suns selected him in 1988. He became a three-time All-Star and helped the 1993 team reach the NBA Finals, then played in Cleveland and Miami before returning to Phoenix for his final season in 2001-02.

The restaurant opened midway through that first Phoenix stay, months before the Suns reached the Finals. Fans could encounter Majerle's name downtown as well as at the arena. The two parts of his public life were growing together.

Phoenix has preserved another part of his identity through the Dan Majerle Hustle Award. Jordan Goodwin received the 2026 honor. The award gives an old player's reputation a present-tense purpose: identifying effort in somebody else's game. It keeps the standard moving from one roster to the next.

A second bench, with a different test

Majerle's coaching years supplied a more demanding examination of how playing experience transfers. After work in television and five seasons on the Suns' staff, he took over Grand Canyon in 2013 as the program entered Division I.

GCU's coaching history records a 136-89 mark over seven seasons, including four consecutive twenty-win seasons from 2015-16 through 2018-19. His teams twice reached the WAC tournament final and fell one victory short of an NCAA tournament berth. The last season finished 13-17.

The four twenty-win seasons gave the new Division I program a sustained run of competitive teams. The two WAC final defeats also left Majerle without an NCAA tournament appearance. Both belong in an assessment of his coaching years.

Coaching also changed his relationship to effort. A player can chase a loose ball himself. A coach has to teach positioning, choose who plays and persuade other people to sustain the standard. The jobs draw on some of the same experience while placing responsibility in different hands.

The connection that lasted

The restaurant dates to his playing years. Broadcasting and coaching followed. The Suns' annual award continues to attach his name to a quality the franchise wants from current players.

The strongest thread is his connection to Phoenix. It has survived changes in role because it exists in several places: a remembered team, a business and an institutional honor. Together, they give fans several ways to encounter his name long after his final season.

For fans who remember Thunder Dan, the useful answer to "where is he now?" is in those continuing roles. The playing career created the recognition. The later work gave that recognition places to go.