Mat Ishbia’s tenure as Phoenix Suns owner hasn’t quite gone to plan so far, but he isn’t about to throw in the towel.
Ishbia met with reporters on Thursday after his team’s disappointing season came to an end. Despite having a NBA-high payroll as well as the league’s first-ever $400 million roster (in salary and tax combined), the Suns finished 36-46 and failed to even make the play-in tournament.
During his remarks, Ishbia acknowledged that the season was “embarrassing” and added that much improvement was needed. But he also went on to make an extremely bold promise about the future.
“I promise you we will,” said Ishbia, per Gerald Bourguet of PHNX Sports. “I promise you we will win championships, with an S at the end.”
That is obviously a tall task to live up to as the Suns have never even won one championship since their inception as a franchise in 1968. But Ishbia is clearly up for the challenge.
Ever since taking over for embattled former Suns owner Robert Sarver in 2023, the billionaire mortgage lender CEO Ishbia has shown a resolve to be very aggressive. He immediately blew through the second apron of the luxury tax and also swung multiple trades for superstar talent.
But now the question has become whether Ishbia was too aggressive. Phoenix’s 2023 trade for Kevin Durant gutted most of their young assets (players and picks alike), and their move for Bradley Beal later that summer for even more young assets has been an abject disaster thus far. Ishbia has also already fired three different head coaches (Monty Williams, Frank Vogel, and Mike Budenholzer) with a fourth one soon to be added to payroll as well.
The Suns are now facing a reckoning this offseason and will have to figure out at least a) who their new head coach will be, b) if there is any possible way to move Beal in spite of his no-trade clause, and c) whether to pull the trigger on a Durant trade (as has been widely rumored). But for Ishbia’s part, he is confident that the team will (somehow) emerge on the other side hoisting the Larry O’Brien Trophy.
