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Report blasts Mat Ishbia and his ability to be an owner

© Joel Angel Juarez/The Republic / USA TODAY NETWORK

Many people are looking for the root cause of why the Phoenix Suns were swept in the first round of the NBA playoffs completely healthy last night and trying to find answers.

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A report from Hoops’ Wire’s Sam Amico suggests that some of the Suns’ problems can be tied to the team’s owner Mat Ishbia. Amico wrote that a Suns source told him about how Ishbia runs the team since he took over for Robert Sarver.

“It’s like looney tunes around here. It’s felt unstable since (Ishbia) arrived. He’s a good guy and everything, I think, but he’s just very involved. Too involved. I know he played (college basketball at Michigan State), but I’d venture to say he has no idea what he’s doing when it comes to basketball. Yet he’s making a lot of the big decisions.”

Ishbia officially bought the Suns for $4 billion in February 2023 from former owner Robert Sarver, who was accused of multiple instances of racism and misogyny in his time as owner by ESPN.

Since, the Suns have have made a number of moves under Ishbia, as Devin Booker is the only one left on the team from the Suns’ 2021 NBA Finals run.

The biggest deals under Ishbia include the trades for Kevin Durant and Bradley Beal, who both are due to make over $50 million for the next couple seasons.

He kept general manager James Jones, but fired coach Monty Williams one day after their season ended in Game 6 of the second round of the 2022 playoffs to the Denver Nuggets and hired Frank Vogel and his staff a few weeks later. Now, questions are arissing about Vogel’s future.

Ishbia stated at the the team’s media day on Oct. 2 that he felt the Suns have “the best team in the NBA,” as he hoped the roster moves he made would immediately turn the Suns into a title contender.

The Suns are projected to have the highest tax bill in the NBA next season after signing Grayson Allen to a four-year, $70-million extension a few weeks ago.

Phoenix has virtually no assets, having traded or swapped all of their first-round picks until 2030. They only own one second-round pick in this timeframe: a 2028 pick from the Boston Celtics (protected 31-45).

So now the Suns face an embarrassing early exit despite completely healthy, and everyone scrambling to find answers.

Amico compared Ishbia’s time with the Suns to his biggest rival Dan Gilbert’s start with the Cleveland Cavaliers.

“The source went on to compare Ishbia’s ownership to the ownership of Dan Gilbert with the Cleveland Cavaliers in the early 2000s. Gilbert is also a Michigan State product — though he and Ishbia own competing mortgage companies and reportedly don’t speak at league owners’ meetings, or really, any other time. They’re said not to like each other.

‘Back in the day, the Cavs’ basketball staff would do their coaching search, and Dan would do his coaching search,” the source said. “He’s not like that now, from everything I know. He lets the basketball people handle that stuff. Ishbia doesn’t. He’s a pain in the (butt) to be honest.’

After buying the Suns for a reported $4 billion, Ishbia made dramatic changes to everything from the front office to the team roster. So far, none of it has worked.

‘There aren’t too many examples where a young owner comes in, gets super involved, and then the team has great success,” the source said. “What you usually get is where (the Suns) are now.'”

Suns swept, is a coaching change inevitable for a second straight season?

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Brendan Mau is a senior writer covering the Phoenix Suns and more for Burn City Sports. You can follow him on X via @Brendan_Mau

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