It’s not even been a full week since the Phoenix Suns were unceremoniously dispatched from the NBA Playoffs by the surging Minnesota Timberwolves and owner Mat Ishbia is placing all his confidence in his team. Ishbia is a team owner extremely involved in the affairs of his organization. While the team weighs the future of current coach Frank Vogul, many have called into question the Suns’ current roster construction. According to comments in a press conference by Ishbia obtained by USA Today Sports NBA Insider Michael Scotto, the roster is fixable and is the envy of the league.
“Oh, it’s extremely fixable. I mean, let’s, let’s just be real, although this isn’t a cool narrative and the national media really won’t want to play it out there, but like, ask the other 29 GMs, 26 of them would trade their whole team for our whole team and our whole, and our draft picks and everything as is, like, The house is not on fire. We’re in great position. It’s not hard to fix. It’s not like we’re like, Hey, we don’t have enough talent to win a championship. We have enough talent to win a championship. Right. Did we, do we have enough continuity? We have time together. Like there’s a lot of things we can look at.”
Later on, he placed his full confidence in his team, saying, “In my opinion, the best coaches, GMs see like all these people and I get to spend time with our people and say, we’re in really great shape and I wouldn’t trade our team or our situation for anyone else’s except for I’d like to be playing right now. But besides that, for like how going into the off-season, I feel great about it.
Ishbia’s remarks sparked criticism within the NBA community, with many questioning the honesty of his portrayal of the team’s situation. Ishbia assumed majority ownership of the Suns after the previous owner, Robert Sarver, was compelled to divest his shares in the team due to an investigation uncovering allegations of fostering a toxic workplace environment, as well as instances of racism and misogyny.
Ishbia immediately began to make his mark on the organization, pushing through a trade to acquire then Brooklyn Nets star Kevin Durant at the trade deadline in the 2022-2023 season. Under Ishbia’s leadership, Monty Williams departed the team to become the head coach of the Detroit Pistons, Chris Paul was traded to the Wizards to acquire Bradley Beal, and Deandre Ayton was traded to the Trailblazers in the three-team trade that sent Damian Lillard to the Milwaukee Bucks. The moves formed a semblance of a superteam, three All-Star caliber players and a roster largely lacking in depth beyond their starting five. That lack of depth showed itself during the Suns’ regular season campaign but it became even more apparent against the Timberwolves in the first round.
There isn’t much to do to make the roster better outside of a massive trade or additions on the margins that fit within the team’s budget. Phoenix will have three players taking up a massive share of the salary cap. Kevin Durant ($51.18 million), Bradley Beal ($50.2 million) and Devin Booker ($49.4 million) are all on max deals. they also owe Jusuf Nurkic $37.5 million over the next two seasons, and just gave Grayson Allen a four-year, $70 million extension. Considerable draft capital was also surrendered in their trades to secure Beal & Durant, leaving them with only one draft pick in 2024 and none until 2031.
The Suns do have considerable talent and did finish the season at 49-33, narrowly missing the play-in tournament. But, are the Suns content with being just a good team or a true contender for the NBA title? Only time will tell but Ishbia’s comments aren’t an encouraging sign of real change.
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