Suns Owner, Stephen A. Smith Exchange Blows

Smith did end up apologizing to Ishbia on First Take Friday.

"First of all, in all seriousness. Mat Ishbia is absolutely right. I do owe him an apology because I mentioned Donald Sterling," Smith said. "I thought I was making it clear I was talking about basketball.

"I certainly did not mean to compare him to a person that was thrown out of this league and has been widely recognized as a racist. I should not have mentioned Mat Ishbia's name in the same breath as Donald Sterling in that regard. I did not mean to do that.

"I was not talking about that Donald Sterling. I was talking about the Donald Sterling that would be sitting courtside, heckling his own d--- players and never winning anything and didn't give a d---. That's the Donald Sterling that I was talking about in terms of how ineffective he was as an owner on the basketball court, I certainly did not mean to do that.

"So Mat Ishbia is absolutely right, and for that, I apologize. I'm a man. If I'm wrong, I'll say I'm wrong. Unfortunately for you, sir, that's the only thing I'm wrong about, and that's the only apology that you're getting from me."

Smith then went on a rant for over 10 minutes about what Ishbia did wrong as an owner in terms of basketball moves.

"Respectfully, I know the future could hold an ordinate amount of possibilities, but in your first two years, there is a legitimate argument that you are an atrocity, one of the worst owners in the history of the sport," Smith said.

"Your background makes it worse, because there's no excuse for it to happen. Were you not a walk-on at Michigan State? Did you not play for Tom Izzo? The phenomenal Tom Izzo, okay, one of the greatest coaches in the history of college basketball. Did you not talk about the kind of influence he had on your life and what he has done for you in terms of your basketball acumen or whatever? My God, you're staining his name. That's how bad you've been."

Smith would then make the same points as he did originally, focusing mostly on the fact that Ishbia came in as owner in Feb. 2023 and broke up the team that made it to the NBA Finals by trading away the likes of Mikal Bridges, Cam Johnson, Jae Crowder, Chris Paul and Deandre Ayton, fired three coaches in three years who he will owe a lot of money to and got rid of future assets to build the highest-paid roster in NBA history for a team that severely underachieved.

The Suns' shortcomings under Ishbia are no secret, and he will have to correct course this summer, but Ishbia has invested a ton as an owner into not only the team, but the community and fans, so it doesn't make much sense to criticize him with all the good he has done in his position.

What the Suns look like in the future under Ishbia remains to be seen, but there will be changes coming, as Ishbia himself promised Thursday.