Suns' new ownership could be official before trade deadline

In December, Mat Ishbia agreed to purchase the Suns for $4 billion from suspended owner Robert Sarver, but the deal hasn't been finalized yet. While Sarver is suspended from day-to-day operations of the franchise, he still has to approve any move involving players making at or above the average NBA salary of $10.8 million, according to ESPN's Baxter Holmes and Adrian Wojnarowski.

That's created a bottleneck when it comes to roster decisions for the 25-24 Suns, who are in seventh place in the Western Conference. Phoenix has to make decisions on a lot of players, including Jae Crowder, who has been away from the Suns all season as they tried to work out a trade. 

Holmes and Wojnarowski reported that Ishbia "is expected to be a hands-on owner in matters of team building." Does that mean he wants to put his stamp on the team right away? Perhaps.

Dealing Crowder is the most obvious and urgent move — he's a free agent this summer, so Phoenix could lose him for nothing. Dario Saric and his $9 million deal are also expiring, and Phoenix might want to trade him to save on luxury tax.

But Ishbia might have bigger ambitions. Chris Paul is signed for two more years for more than $60 million, but next year's guarantee is just $15 million, and his 2024-25 deal is completely non-guaranteed. Deandre Ayton re-signed with Phoenix last summer for four years, but only after first signing an offer sheet with the Indiana Pacers.

Crowder is guaranteed to go somewhere, but otherwise, the Suns could try to stay the course. After all, last year's team won 64 games with a similar roster. If the new owner wants to make it his team right away, the Suns have a combination of enticing veterans, expiring contracts and all of their own draft picks going forward, which could make them active before the Feb. 9 trade deadline.

Especially now that they don't need their old owner to be involved.