Moderators: bwgood77, Qwigglez, lilfishi22
SunsRback4Good wrote:Stix wrote:spanishninja wrote:I wonder if Markelle Fultz would sign with us as a backup PG? He had a pretty significant dropoff this season and I wonder if Orlando wants to develop Anthony Black instead? injury risk though.
Fultz can do better, someone will at least give him an MLE.
Banchero & Fultz for Beal, Gordon, Eubanks make it happen Ishbia
SunsRback4Good wrote:Stix wrote:spanishninja wrote:I wonder if Markelle Fultz would sign with us as a backup PG? He had a pretty significant dropoff this season and I wonder if Orlando wants to develop Anthony Black instead? injury risk though.
Fultz can do better, someone will at least give him an MLE.
Banchero & Fultz for Beal, Gordon, Eubanks make it happen Ishbia
Kyler Murray wrote:SunsRback4Good wrote:Stix wrote:
Fultz can do better, someone will at least give him an MLE.
Banchero & Fultz for Beal, Gordon, Eubanks make it happen Ishbia
Tell em they need to include Franz Wagner and a couple frp too while we're at it
Former NFL Wide Receiver Says Kevin Durant Told Him He's Open to Joining The Miami Heat
Kevin Durant is reportedly open to leaving the Phoenix Suns to join the Miami Heat,
NICO MARTINEZ
2 HOURS AGO
During a guest appearance on 'Club Shay Shay,' former NFL wide receiver Chad Johnson testified to Kevin Durant's potential interest in the Miami Heat. According to Johnson, he personally spoke with the 2x champion who told him that he would not object to a trade to the Heat if it made sense for both sides.
"I talked to KD, we had a lengthy conversation," said Johnson. "I'm not into basketball and people like Durant and LeBron and some of these other players that I know confide in me and I asked if it was okay to talk about it. He said he would have no problem coming down to Miami if it made sense.”
After a miserable season with the Suns, belief is growing among fans that Kevin Durant might consider a change of scenery for the fourth time in his career. Despite specifically asking for a trade to the Suns, Durant has not had much success there so far, with only one playoff series win under his belt since 2023.
After a miserable season with the Suns, belief is growing among fans that Kevin Durant might consider a change of scenery for the fourth time in his career. Despite specifically asking for a trade to the Suns, Durant has not had much success there so far, with only one playoff series win under his belt since 2023.
At 35 years old now, the 14x All-Star doesn't have a lot of time left in his NBA career and he doesn't seem keen to waste them in a situation where he cannot compete.
Under contract through the 2025-26 season, Durant cannot just leave the Suns this summer or anytime soon. It will take some major theatrics on his part to force the Suns' hand and get him to a situation like the Heat.
While far from perfect, Erik Spoelstra and company have expressed confidence in maximizing Durant's skillset before and there's no reason they couldn't do it now if he finally ends up there after all these years.
Alongside Jimmy Butler and Bam Adebayo, Durant would be in a great position to win his third title. But after tying his future to the Suns, he cannot leave so easily and team governor Mat Ishbia will not allow his sacrifice from last season to be in vain. At 35 years old now, the 14x All-Star doesn't have a lot of time left in his NBA career and he doesn't seem keen to waste them in a situation where he cannot compete.
he Phoenix Suns Are In Denial
The Suns gave up pretty much everything they had to assemble this roster. With a "big three' of Devin Booker, Bradley Beal, and Kevin Durant, the Suns were hoping that their efforts would finally be rewarded with their first-ever NBA championship.
But after losing to the Nuggets in the second round last year, and getting swept by the Timberwolves this year, the Suns are in a state of uncertainty right now as fans and experts struggle to figure out how they might turn the situation around. The worst part of it all is that team governor Mat Ishbia seems to be in complete denial over the situation and he insists to this day that the Suns are a source of envy for at least 26 teams. With those comments, the Suns seem more likely to run it back than give up Durant in any kind of trade.
At this point, Kevin has no choice but to accept his fate and try his best to play through the chaos and the doubt. With him and Booker, there's still a chance for a better future. But if things don't get any better for the Suns next season, the situation could become toxic for everyone involved and Ishbia may have no choice but to do something drastic in order to save his situation.
TeamTragic wrote:The Heat barely won a single playoff game and Butler is always injured
TeamTragic wrote:The Heat barely won a single playoff game and Butler is always injured
TeamTragic wrote:The Heat barely won a single playoff game and Butler is always injured
King4Day wrote:bwgood77 wrote:King4Day wrote:
The Gobert trade was still a fleecing by Utah. Basically like 5 firsts for a guy who wasn't expected to put them over the top. That trade is why the Suns were forced to make an even worse trade (asset wise) for KD.
Now, fast-forwarding 2 years, I'd still say the Suns got the better player, but it's clear the Wolves have the better fit. Also, it helps that Minny has a player who is turning into the new face of the NBA. Had Ant not made the big jump, then people would still say it was a bad trade for them.
All that said, I hope the Wolves win it all. I'd be happy for Conley, Gobert, and Warren
I thought it was kind of a dumb quick reaction that the Gobert trade was that bad. With Ant emerging, and Towns, they would at least be decent, and Gobert solidifies the defense for the foreseeable future. It's different than the KD trade because KD is really old and was extremely injury prone, and we gave up key young players from a finals team who were great for chemistry who Book loved.
I don't imagine the firsts will be that good, as they are still young, particularly with their star in Ant being really young and Towns being pretty young, being from the same draft as Book. Utah did end up getting Kessler with the 22 pick they received, who is pretty solid as well as Vanderbilt who was/is decent, but Gobert is a big time impact player who was underrated at the time.
I don't think anyone would have agreed with this going into the season. Last season, for Minny, is likely how many Suns fans feel right now.
"We just wasted our future for a player who won't be able to help us make the jump afterall"
I do agree, we traded everything for one player. One who was older and more injury prone.
When I woke up to that trade alert, I had a pit in my stomach. Did I want KD? Yes. But not if bridges had to be included. And if he did have to be, not for all the picks we traded. Nevermind CamJo as well as Crowder.
So, seeing our future go to waste, the stress of being a Suns fan became very real. If it doesn't work, there's little point in watching until at least 2031.
Sneaky move could bail the Suns out of a bind
Phoenix is in a tricky situation, but one clever solution could help them begin to get out of it.
By Will Eudy | 5:00 PM MST
With the Phoenix Suns' season officially over, an up-and-down year has drawn to a close and the team now finds itself in a precarious situation. The Suns are set to give out massive paychecks to Devin Booker, Kevin Durant and Bradley Beal, all while having almost no draft picks to work with over the next several seasons.
This is the bed Phoenix made, and now they must sleep in it. With the front office's ability to build a team severely handicapped, many are wondering where the Suns turn from here. Their decision to go all-in on three stars that are far from a seamless fit with each other has backfired in a huge way, and there are few ways out of this situation. Even the teams who finished this season at the bottom of the standings are looking at the Suns and breathing a sigh of relief they are not Phoenix, despite what team owner Mat Ishbia might tell you. But no challenge exists without some kind of solution, right? So with such a bleak reality, how do the Suns move forward and attempt to right their wrongs?
Jake Fischer from Yahoo! Sports proposed a rather unique idea. In his mind, Phoenix could utilize one of their top role players in a way that would empower them to be able to improve their roster. The Suns could hypothetically sign Royce O'Neale to a contract extension that they understand is an overpay, because doing so would allow them to get multiple potential rotation players back.
One reporter suggests the Suns could sign-and-trade Royce O'Neale
Phoenix's roster is incredibly thin at the moment. They are relying heavily on their star power, and we are seeing how well that is going for them so far. The Suns did not run into significant injury trouble this past season, but imagine if they did next year? The team clearly needs more role players to fill out the bench and provide some insurance.
Royce was obviously solid in his few months as a Sun post-trade deadline, but he is expendable enough that Phoenix should at least be open to the idea of trying something like this. If you can turn O'Neale into two or even three lower-cost rotation players, it would seem like a no-brainer move.
Ghost of Kleine wrote:https://valleyofthesuns.com/posts/sneaky-move-bail-suns-out-bindSneaky move could bail the Suns out of a bind
Phoenix is in a tricky situation, but one clever solution could help them begin to get out of it.
By Will Eudy | 5:00 PM MST
With the Phoenix Suns' season officially over, an up-and-down year has drawn to a close and the team now finds itself in a precarious situation. The Suns are set to give out massive paychecks to Devin Booker, Kevin Durant and Bradley Beal, all while having almost no draft picks to work with over the next several seasons.
This is the bed Phoenix made, and now they must sleep in it. With the front office's ability to build a team severely handicapped, many are wondering where the Suns turn from here. Their decision to go all-in on three stars that are far from a seamless fit with each other has backfired in a huge way, and there are few ways out of this situation. Even the teams who finished this season at the bottom of the standings are looking at the Suns and breathing a sigh of relief they are not Phoenix, despite what team owner Mat Ishbia might tell you. But no challenge exists without some kind of solution, right? So with such a bleak reality, how do the Suns move forward and attempt to right their wrongs?
Jake Fischer from Yahoo! Sports proposed a rather unique idea. In his mind, Phoenix could utilize one of their top role players in a way that would empower them to be able to improve their roster. The Suns could hypothetically sign Royce O'Neale to a contract extension that they understand is an overpay, because doing so would allow them to get multiple potential rotation players back.
One reporter suggests the Suns could sign-and-trade Royce O'Neale
There is a max amount we can pay O'Neale that isn't very high. I think we were concerned he'd even sign for that amount because he could maybe get more elsewhere.
Phoenix's roster is incredibly thin at the moment. They are relying heavily on their star power, and we are seeing how well that is going for them so far. The Suns did not run into significant injury trouble this past season, but imagine if they did next year? The team clearly needs more role players to fill out the bench and provide some insurance.
Royce was obviously solid in his few months as a Sun post-trade deadline, but he is expendable enough that Phoenix should at least be open to the idea of trying something like this. If you can turn O'Neale into two or even three lower-cost rotation players, it would seem like a no-brainer move.
bwgood77 wrote:Ghost of Kleine wrote:https://valleyofthesuns.com/posts/sneaky-move-bail-suns-out-bindSneaky move could bail the Suns out of a bind
Phoenix is in a tricky situation, but one clever solution could help them begin to get out of it.
By Will Eudy | 5:00 PM MST
With the Phoenix Suns' season officially over, an up-and-down year has drawn to a close and the team now finds itself in a precarious situation. The Suns are set to give out massive paychecks to Devin Booker, Kevin Durant and Bradley Beal, all while having almost no draft picks to work with over the next several seasons.
This is the bed Phoenix made, and now they must sleep in it. With the front office's ability to build a team severely handicapped, many are wondering where the Suns turn from here. Their decision to go all-in on three stars that are far from a seamless fit with each other has backfired in a huge way, and there are few ways out of this situation. Even the teams who finished this season at the bottom of the standings are looking at the Suns and breathing a sigh of relief they are not Phoenix, despite what team owner Mat Ishbia might tell you. But no challenge exists without some kind of solution, right? So with such a bleak reality, how do the Suns move forward and attempt to right their wrongs?
Jake Fischer from Yahoo! Sports proposed a rather unique idea. In his mind, Phoenix could utilize one of their top role players in a way that would empower them to be able to improve their roster. The Suns could hypothetically sign Royce O'Neale to a contract extension that they understand is an overpay, because doing so would allow them to get multiple potential rotation players back.
One reporter suggests the Suns could sign-and-trade Royce O'Neale
There is a max amount we can pay O'Neale that isn't very high. I think we were concerned he'd even sign for that amount because he could maybe get more elsewhere.
Phoenix's roster is incredibly thin at the moment. They are relying heavily on their star power, and we are seeing how well that is going for them so far. The Suns did not run into significant injury trouble this past season, but imagine if they did next year? The team clearly needs more role players to fill out the bench and provide some insurance.
Royce was obviously solid in his few months as a Sun post-trade deadline, but he is expendable enough that Phoenix should at least be open to the idea of trying something like this. If you can turn O'Neale into two or even three lower-cost rotation players, it would seem like a no-brainer move.
Kyler Murray wrote:SunsRback4Good wrote:Stix wrote:
Fultz can do better, someone will at least give him an MLE.
Banchero & Fultz for Beal, Gordon, Eubanks make it happen Ishbia
Tell em they need to include Franz Wagner and a couple frp too while we're at it
TeamTragic wrote:Per Flex today Vogel will remain coach next season
Slim Charless wrote:TeamTragic wrote:Per Flex today Vogel will remain coach next season
Honestly, not the worst decision. Who do you wanna hire? Coach Bud will likely sit another yr out and see what's available.
Keep Vogel, I'd love to see us hire Adrian Griffin as his assistant if possible though. Dude should've never been fired from MIL. I'd give him a second chance here any day of the week.
TeamTragic wrote:Slim Charless wrote:TeamTragic wrote:Per Flex today Vogel will remain coach next season
Honestly, not the worst decision. Who do you wanna hire? Coach Bud will likely sit another yr out and see what's available.
Keep Vogel, I'd love to see us hire Adrian Griffin as his assistant if possible though. Dude should've never been fired from MIL. I'd give him a second chance here any day of the week.
The same Vogel that this team doesn't respect?
Exits: Impulse control
True Hoop’s Henry Abbott on Mat Ishbia’s oversight in Phoenix, and the eroding cost of corporate optics.
HENRY ABBOTT
MAY 03, 2024
No matter how long a regular NBA season can feel, there’s still a sense of abruptness when a team gets eliminated in the playoffs. There are plenty of reasons why a team fails to reach that ultimate echelon of a Championship. Some (injuries, personnel) are easier to parse than others (existential and identity crises), all have an effect.
Enter ‘Exits’.
This is the 4th year I’ve been writing these part reflections, obituaries and studies of teams as their competitive seasons come to a close. This will be the second I’ve invited other writers to pick a team that stood out to them and try to get to the bottom of something. My hope with ‘Exits’ is alway to give a little more runway to what was and could’ve been.
An admin note, and something I’ve grappled with, but half of this series will be paywalled. This is a model I’ll likely proceed with going forward, but what remains consistent is my gratitude, whether you’re able to support my work financially or do so just by reading. Thank you, and enjoy the series!
— Katie Heindl
Mat and Emily Ishbia bought a post-war ranch in Bloomfield, Michigan. Then they bought the neighboring house, tore both down, and built a 22,000-square-foot modern marvel that magazines featured, with photos of the billionaire mortgage executive, his model wife, and their three children.
Then that house tired the Ishbias, so they tore it down, and started on the next project: combining eight houses into a zoning conundrum boasting a lazy river, a climbing wall, and a few sports courts. Unfortunately, the town nixed their plans for a go-kart track and zip line.
Before it was done, Mat and Emily got divorced, and it made me think about AirPods.
I grew up in Oregon with an English family who, starting in the 1970s, flew Pan Am every summer back when merely boarding would prompt a staffer to lock eyes, light up with an “Oh, you’re here!” expression, and affix tiny plastic wings to your stripy kids shirt.
That romance is notably absent in the stale air of modern coach. People settle into seats these days with senses professionally dampened — damn near every ear noise-canceled, many eyes covered, some heads under blankets — as if eye contact and plastic wings would be the worst.
The last time I flew, after all the overheads were filled and belts buckled, I had a personal crisis. I dropped an AirPod — a newish AirPod Pro, in fact, that had been a birthday present from my wife. Even a child’s foot can reduce that cutting-edge white lozenge to a useless frizzle of wire. So I contorted my body, craning to see around my own ass meeting the seat, then someone else’s stuff under it.
Then, a modern miracle: Rows and aisles behind me lit up with concern, eyes locked on my struggle. Within ten seconds, a complete stranger placed the wayward pod in my outstretched hand.
I thanked her, making a comment about these things — so valuable and yet so determined to leap to train station floors, washing machines, and plane aisles.
“Right?” she said. Then she added that “those things” were a story of “looking for a good time, not a long time.”
A voluble 5-9 white pill of a man, Mat Ishbia performed a miracle. He didn’t just make Tom Izzo’s elite Michigan State teams in the years of Mateen Cleaves, Charlie Bell, Jason Richardson, and Zach Randolph; he made an impression on those players, who all kinda loved him. (Cleaves and Bell work for Ishbia in the mortgage business right now.)
Some point guards are ten inches taller. If you’re that small in elite basketball, there isn’t much wiggle room for other flaws. Seven-footers might not always be able to shoot and pass, but five-footers had better. Not Mat! Over three years, Ishbia played 48 total minutes of real college basketball. He shot 47 percent from the free-throw line. He tallied more turnovers (16) than assists (13) and as many fouls (12) as rebounds.
Soon he was, according to Emily, literally wearing out a patch of fabric on his pants from getting in and out of cars so much in his sales job at his dad’s mortgage company. Mat, she writes in a blog entry on her personal website, “talks big and performs even bigger.”
Though far from taking the Big Ten by storm, Ishbia aspired to make the NBA in whatever capacity. That ambition turned him into a hurricane — massive activity, plenty to regret.
Bloomberg quoted several employees saying that Ishbia’s United Wholesale Mortgage is a “locker room culture” where women and minorities are treated differently.
Polly Mosendz and Caleb Melby report "more than half a dozen sales employees said they encountered drugs on campus. One recalled arriving at 7 a.m. one day in 2019 to find a manager using cocaine in the bathroom. Another recalled seeing two or more employees enter the same stall on a handful of occasions, before he stopped taking notice.”
UWM hired Cleaves while he was awaiting trial in a sexual-assault case resulting from video of a naked Cleaves dragging a naked-but-for-the-bra woman back to their hotel room. Cleaves was acquitted.
Ishbia made the Wall Street Journal for having everyone return to work in-person five days a week in the middle of the pandemic.
Isiah Thomas, one of the NBA’s most famous sexual harassers, was on the UWM board.
The head of a mortgage-industry group named Anthony Casa made up a story about his rival, saying the guy’s wife gave Ishbia a blowjob. A lawsuit followed.
But then it turned out that Casa wasn’t so much the head of an independent industry group, but one of Ishbia’s closest friends. Allegedly, according to this investigation and an ongoing RICO lawsuit, Casa is also a plotter from Ishbia’s back room in a “scheme to defraud” hundreds of thousands of people. There’s a lot more to the story, but the undeniable point seems to be that pretty wild things swirl around Ishbia.
When Pablo Torre’s incredible recent show on Ishbia seized on an outrageous voicemail that Ishbia had left, it’s worth noting he had left it for Casa — around the time Ishbia’s company became the biggest mortgage firm in America:
Hey buddy, hope you’re doing good. Just want to say I love you. We **** took those cocksuckers down. **** them. And we're gonna keep **** sticking to ’em forever. **** those guys. We’re number one. We kicked the **** out of them. Brokers are number one. UWM is number one. You're number one. We’re all number one together. And **** them. I **** hate ’em with all my heart. We’re going to keep kicking their ass every **** day. That’s why I was here at **** at four a.m. again today I don’t give a ****.
(The “they,” by the way, is another Michigan-based mortgage company, Rocket Mortgage, owned by the Cavaliers’ Dan Gilbert.)
A lot of research into Ishbia and UWM comes from the media arm of an investment firm called Hunterbrook, which has shorted UWM — betting that one of the nation’s fastest-growing mortgage companies is in it not for a long time, but for a good time.
Ishbia seems so caffeinated that any honest transcription would end every sentence with an exclamation point. But he claims to drink no caffeine whatsoever, asserting: “I drink water and I love it!”
He can keep the exclamation points going for hours—in press conferences in Phoenix, in local TV interviews in Michigan, in torrents of how I got so dang rich interviews in the business press. Out of Ishbia’s mouth, all topics drift and bend to the main point: how profoundly good Mat Ishbia is at things.
He has built the number-one mortgage company in America. He is never late. He makes things better. He eats lunch with interns and implements their ideas. He has someone tell him when there are five minutes left in the meeting so he can be early for the next one. He has built the number-one mortgage company in America. He does not allow cell phones in meetings. He focuses on action-agenda items. He’s pushy. He has built the number-one mortgage company in America.
A lot of NBA billionaires simply let the basketball staff handle media day at training camp. Not Ishbia. He took the mic solo as the Suns embarked on a journey destined to be proof of Ishbia’s genius.
The media was in no mood to criticize. Many questions began with some kind of Hey Mat, howudoin? in a tone that harkened back to some imagined afternoon when they had abandoned their shoes and wandered together down the beach, losing all track of time.
That same press conference contained one minor disagreement. Was Mat, as one writer suggested, the center of the basketball world? Or was Mat more correct when he countered that the Suns were the center of the basketball world? What a cute debate.
Photo by Kate Frese
Mat slathered everything with “better.” Ishbia purchased the team in February 2023 and immediately traded for Kevin Durant. After beating the Clippers in the playoffs a few months later, the Suns became the only team in last year’s postseason to force the champion Nuggets to a sixth game.
Never mind, Ishbia explained, they’d get better. In the summer’s when the team really got Ishbiaing: On June 6, they hired Frank Vogel, a coach who had won a title in Los Angeles. On June 24, they landed Bradley Beal. Everyone said the salary cap would crush the Suns’ ability to build out the roster. Ishbia assured that they assessed every single free agent on the market: “The reality is, it didn’t affect us!”
The Suns lost Jock Landale and Torrey Craig and signed Bol Bol, Drew Eubanks, and Eric Gordon. Ishbia says they lured those players with the appeal of playing “into April, May, and June.” Of course, the only June basketball is the NBA Finals. So much of Ishbia’s talk implies LET’S GOOOOOOOOOO!!!
But to get Durant and Beal, the Suns executed the most aggressive-ever case of trading the future away for the present. This is not a new strategy; they would follow in the footsteps of Paul Allen, James Dolan, and Mikhail Prokhorov—none of whom came especially close to success.
To assemble his super team, Ishbia discarded five first-round picks, five more first-round pick swaps, and eight second-round picks. They also traded away Mikal Bridges, Cam Johnson, Deandre Ayton, Chris Paul, Toumani Camara, Keita Bates-Diop, Chimezie Metu, Yuta Watanabe, Landry Shamet, Jae Crowder, and Dario Šarić. The practical implication is that the Suns won’t draft a good player until next decade, at the soonest, nor will they have significant roster flexibility to sign free agents.
In September, Ishbia’s Suns elbowed their way into the Bucks’ trade for Damian Lillard,
landing Jusuf Nurkić, Grayson Allen, and Nassir Little. “We,” Ishbia declared, “got better!”
The reality is that, after all that activity merely to contend in the short term, the team was worse in just about every way. Over the last four years, the Suns have descended from winning 14 playoff games and making the Finals, then seven the following year, six last season with Durant, and zero this year.
It’ll probably get worse from here. There’s debate about when NBA players peak. Some say 25; others say 27, or the age of the youngest core Sun, Devin Booker. In other words, it would be normal for everyone to get a little worse. In your 30s, like Beal and Durant, it’s more common to have a career end than improve dramatically. Vogel may be fired.
If you factor in the punitive effects of the elite-level luxury tax, it’s not clear the Suns won a single transaction. Perhaps the players they had before Ishbia, plus a steady stream of draft picks, would have resulted in better outcomes all around. A lot of ex-Suns are excellent: not just Bridges, Johnson, and Ayton, but even Landale and Camara played surprisingly well.
When Ishbia bought the Suns, Bernie Smilovitz of Local 4 in Detroit heard Ishbia talk about how hard he pushed himself and everyone and asked Ishbia if it was possible to push too much. Ishbia responded: “We’re going to find out.”
Sam Amico of Hoops Wire quotes an unnamed Suns source as saying:
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. … There aren’t too many examples where a young owner comes in, gets super involved, and then the team has great success. What you usually get is where (the Suns) are now.
Someone who knows Ishbia pointed out to me that, though he’s historically kept in great shape, he looks a little heavy and puffy these days—reportedly from staying out late, sometimes with Suns players.
All of which makes me think about Ishbia’s welcome-to-the-NBA moment. Near the end of the first half in a tight playoff game a year ago, Sun Josh Okogie and an NBA ball tumbled into Ishbia’s courtside seats. Ishbia had dreamed of having the NBA ball in his hands with the game on the line his whole life, and clamped it under his elbow. Nikola Jokić ran over to inbound the ball — it’s legal to take advantage of Okogie’s delay in getting up — and seemed almost desperate to inbound.
“I was trying to get the ball, and he wouldn’t let it go,” Jokic told reporters. “He was trying to influence the game, I think. He should have been kicked out.”
They tussled a bit; the ball squibbed away. When Jokić nudged Ishbia back into his seat, Ishbia threw up his hands like he was drawing a foul back in college — and it really worked. Jokić got a technical foul; the Nuggets won the game by ten.
Photo by Christian Petersen
At the next game, though, Jokic found Ishbia during warmups, playfully tossed him a ball, and then the two shared an awkward hug. Either Jokic was a little sorry, or Ishbia was very powerful.
Everyone got the portrait of a man who wanted it to be about him. “Move your ass out the way, man — owner or not,” said Shaquille O’Neal after the game on TNT. “Joker went to get the ball. Little man got in his space.”
“Some fan is holding onto the ball, like he wants to be part of the game,” Nuggets coach Mike Malone would later say. “Just give the ball up, man.”
Ishbia does literally own that ball. (By the letter of the law, I suppose, Jokić has more right to take it from any other fan.) But the whole enterprise of sports is obsessed with what players like Jokić can do with it in their hands. Just for a second, it was easy to wonder if Ishbia understood that.
Was all this for him?
I’d want answers to that question if I were a Suns fan. Is the point of knowing people like Devin Booker to make Mat Ishbia seem cool? When the Jokić incident happened, Ishbia was sitting with Isiah Thomas, his “idol” and a “great friend” whom Ishbia pays as a member of his mortgage company board, to hang around in his custom-built NBA fantasyland.
Now that the Suns are a disaster, and NBA fans are putting this Booker or that Durant into the trade machine, there are big analytical conversations to have about the market and what’s best for the Suns organization long term.
But at the same time, there also seem to be small personal conversations to have about who’s hanging out with Mat in the off hours. Mat might move on from his wife and his house and his next house. But Isiah Thomas and Mateen Cleaves appear to have permanent inner tubes on Ishbia’s lazy river. I don’t know if Devin Booker hangs out with Ishbia? Or Durant? But if they do, that might be the most exciting fact in Ishbia’s life, and no small part of why he bought the team. Would Mat Ishbia really trade that away?
