Suns Finalizing New Extension With CEO

Ishbia confirmed the extension and made this statement about Bartelstein to Charania:

“From day one, I knew Josh was the right person to help build the culture and organization that I envisioned in Phoenix - on and off the court. He is my trusted partner in every aspect of our basketball (Suns and Mercury) operations and business side as well. His knowledge of basketball, care for our players and the strong relationships he has across the NBA and WNBA have been invaluable in building our success and will continue to shape our future. His leadership has elevated our entire organization.

“He is one of the best CEO’s in all of sports, and happens to be one of the youngest too, and I’m excited to keep working next to Josh as we continue to build on our success.”

Bartelstein was Ishbia's first hire in April 2023 shortly after Ishbia became owner, and he faced a lot of criticism early in his tenure for playing key roles in trading for Bradley Beal and trading away Deandre Ayton for Jusuf Nurkic and Grayson Allen in his first offseason in Phoenix.

Despite this, Ishbia decided to keep Bartelstein when the Suns underwent restructuring in their front office last offseason, and he helped in the transactions that led to Phoenix's quick turnaround in the 2025-26 season.

Bartlestein, who will be 37 next week, also spearheaded the Suns' historic media rights deal, which brought every Suns basketball game over-the-air and direct-to-consumer with Gray Television and Kiswe to over 2.8 million households in Arizona.

Bartelstein was previously a walk-on at the University of Michigan and spent eight years in various role in the front office for the Detroit Pistons, eventually becoming the team's VP of business and basketball operations.

He is also the son of prominent NBA agent Mark Bartelstein, who notably represents Beal and new Suns two-way player Pat Spencer.