The Official 2025 Offseason Thread #5 Dog Days

[Calvin Klein]

Telling someone you disagree with to find another team is childish and borderline unacceptable in a discussion forum.

I get the feeling of being fed-up with 'negative' takes, but that's just pure realism right now (and in foreseeable future). People are frustrated, angry, and rightfully so - our new owner razed Suns to the ground in just a couple of seasons.

As i see it, it's a duty of every Suns fan to oppose such impulsive, incompetent idiots holding the franchise they root for hostage. Pretending everything is fine actually means being complicit in total demise of this franchise.

You can not fathom the negativity towards Khaman, i get that. But let me tell you a thing i can not fathom - how people are incapable of seeing that we are much much closer to relocation than winning a chip in the next 5 to 10 years.

Yep. Frustrated by the fans' negativity? That's what the idiot in charge created. It's all his.

[Ghost of Kleine]

Read on Twitter

[Puff]

and the beat goes on

[Mr Puddles]

I want, a place stay
Get ya booty on the floor tonight
Make my day

[Ghost of Kleine]

Read on Twitter

[TeamTragic]

Read on Twitter

Remember when everyone was saying that Ishbia was broke?

[Mr Puddles]

Read on Twitter

Buys teams fresh off finals run and franchise win record.

Team valuation: 4 billion

Takes 2 1/2 years to trade away the whole starting line-up sans Book, basically all picks for the remainder of the decade, saddles the team up with a historical amount of dead salary and fails to make the play-in tournament.

Team valuation: 6 billion

Damn, imagine if every job was as easy an NBA owner.

[Sunsdeuce]

Read on Twitter

Buys teams fresh off finals run and franchise win record.

Team valuation: 4 billion

Takes 2 1/2 years to trade away the whole starting line-up sans Book, basically all picks for the remainder of the decade, saddles the team up with a historical amount of dead salary and fails to make the play-in tournament.

Team valuation: 6 billion

Damn, imagine if every job was as easy an NBA owner.

Ishbia is failing up!

(Also A teams Valuation is not indication of an owner’s net worth or cash on hand)

[lilfishi22]

Read on Twitter

Buys teams fresh off finals run and franchise win record.

Team valuation: 4 billion

Takes 2 1/2 years to trade away the whole starting line-up sans Book, basically all picks for the remainder of the decade, saddles the team up with a historical amount of dead salary and fails to make the play-in tournament.

Team valuation: 6 billion

Damn, imagine if every job was as easy an NBA owner.

Last season (2023-24), the Phoenix Suns had a $14 million operating loss alongside a $68 million luxury tax bill. Given the increase in player expenses this past season (2024-25), with an $228m payroll and a $152m LT bill, you could reasonably estimate that Ishbia is had nn operating loss of $100-110 million.

On top of this, Ishbia continues s to finance the debt he took on to purchase the team, which adds another layer of financial pressure. He probably has a line of credit for to pay for ongoing expenses but being a billionaire doesn’t necessarily equate to having hundreds of millions of dollars readily available in a bank account. A billionaire’s wealth is often tied up in assets, equity, and investment, not necessarily liquid cash.

I’m not suggesting that Ishbia is/was in financial trouble, but the massive operating losses, combined with team debt and luxury tax payments, isn't chump change just because he's a billionaire. Even for someone with significant wealth, running into financing issues is a possibility, particularly if the losses continue and he needs to secure more liquidity to cover short-term expenses.

[Saberestar]

ESPN’s NBA insiders ranked the Phoenix Suns as one of the teams most likely to tumble in the upcoming 2025-2026 NBA season.

Mat Ishbia:

I'm not worried about what the so-called experts think. They had us as a title contender the past two years and were wrong then. We're focused on making our fans proud by playing great as a team and building a brand of basketball that's tough and gritty.

[MrMiyagi]

ESPN’s NBA insiders ranked the Phoenix Suns as one of the teams most likely to tumble in the upcoming 2025-2026 NBA season.

Mat Ishbia:

I'm not worried about what the so-called experts think. They had us as a title contender the past two years and were wrong then. We're focused on making our fans proud by playing great as a team and building a brand of basketball that's tough and gritty.

L O **** L

[Calvin Klein]

ESPN’s NBA insiders ranked the Phoenix Suns as one of the teams most likely to tumble in the upcoming 2025-2026 NBA season.

Mat Ishbia:

I'm not worried about what the so-called experts think. They had us as a title contender the past two years and were wrong then. We're focused on making our fans proud by playing great as a team and building a brand of basketball that's tough and gritty.

This cannot be real What a fraud.

[Ghost of Kleine]

Read on Twitter

Remember when everyone was saying that Ishbia was broke?

Lol! Very true man! That was just never the case!

With the Suns valuation escalating upwards of 7 billion soon. Just another reason why I wouldn't have sweated Ishbia paying the 200 million luxury tax bill so we could utilize Beal's expiring to reload on a much larger scale with better depth pieces to mitigate the outgoing value of our 27 and 29 1sts as much as possible.

[Ghost of Kleine]

ESPN’s NBA insiders ranked the Phoenix Suns as one of the teams most likely to tumble in the upcoming 2025-2026 NBA season.

Mat Ishbia:

I'm not worried about what the so-called experts think. They had us as a title contender the past two years and were wrong then. We're focused on making our fans proud by playing great as a team and building a brand of basketball that's tough and gritty.

Typical surface level assessment and generic response from the national media pundits. We'll always be underdog status in their eyes compared to the larger markets that they shamelessly schill for.

[Ghost of Kleine]

Read on Twitter

[TeamTragic]

Read on Twitter

Remember when everyone was saying that Ishbia was broke?

Lol! Very true man! That was just never the case!

With the Suns valuation escalating upwards of 7 billion soon. Just another reason why I wouldn't have sweated Ishbia paying the 200 million luxury tax bill so we could utilize Beal's expiring to reload on a much larger scale with better depth pieces to mitigate the outgoing value of our 27 and 29 1sts as much as possible.

So many damn clowns who don't understand that owning an NBA team is about investing and growth not homerism.

Ishbia went from 4B to 7B and the usual suspects are just yelling into the ether. Meanwhile Suns have shed salary and reloaded pretty nicely around Booker.

[Sunsdeuce]

ESPN’s NBA insiders ranked the Phoenix Suns as one of the teams most likely to tumble in the upcoming 2025-2026 NBA season.

Mat Ishbia:

I'm not worried about what the so-called experts think. They had us as a title contender the past two years and were wrong then. We're focused on making our fans proud by playing great as a team and building a brand of basketball that's tough and gritty.

Nah! There’s no way Ishbia said that! Now way! No one can be that dumb especially a billionaire sports owner. That’s why I refuse to believe that’s real. This has to be misinformation. No way. I know he’s not the brightest bulb in the room but this is too far.

[Sunsdeuce]

Remember when everyone was saying that Ishbia was broke?

Lol! Very true man! That was just never the case!

With the Suns valuation escalating upwards of 7 billion soon. Just another reason why I wouldn't have sweated Ishbia paying the 200 million luxury tax bill so we could utilize Beal's expiring to reload on a much larger scale with better depth pieces to mitigate the outgoing value of our 27 and 29 1sts as much as possible.

So many damn clowns who don't understand that owning an NBA team is about investing and growth not homerism.

Ishbia went from 4B to 7B and the usual suspects are just yelling into the ether. Meanwhile Suns have shed salary and reloaded pretty nicely around Booker.

I’m thinking you aren’t understanding cash on hand vs net worth. Musk net worth is the highest in the world but when he bought twitter, he had to take out loans which he’s still paying on because he didn’t have cash and still doesn’t have cash on hand. Net worth does not mean you aren’t in debt. Some of you really don’t understand financials.

[sunskerr]

I don't think our reload was "bad". Honestly given the circumstances (having no picks ahem) then it's honestly pretty good. But we're going to suck this year really really badly unless Jalen Green and Booker have a miracle development. Like I don't see what's controversial about that.

I think there is a subset of fans who kind of think you have to have "belief" or optimism/enthusiasm or you're not a fan. I think that's weird. I can give Ishbia or Gregory props for getting something for a 37 year old KD (10th pick in the draft is pretty solid for any player past 35!) but also it doesn't mean Ishbia didn't trade off all our draft picks and that despite the younger roster our future is still in jeopardy because of that.

If you just look at the roster compared to the rest of the west, it's just a lot more likely we're worse than most teams. It doesn't mean we're doom and glooming and I can't believe it needs to be said that it doesn't mean we want the team to fail. It just means it's just up to the team to prove those expectations wrong. And if they do happen to succeed expectations it doesn't make the "believers" any better as fans than those who were pessimistic since in that scenario we'd all be enjoying watching the team anyway.

Obviously I hope it works it. Mark Williams could improve defensively and stay healthy. Jalen Green maybe takes the next step. What if Booker also makes the leap to a 1A star? Or a collective improvement from the younger more raw prospects. These are all interesting and potentially great things to watch next season regardless of whether or not you think the team is going to be good or not. And that's kind of the other point here - if we're so focused on the record of the team and that's the only way you judge success then we'd be missing the forest for the trees. We could suck and not even win 30 games but what if still Mark Williams becomes a real solid player or Dunn turns into the perfect role player? Those are wins in their own right.

[handsome salary]

ESPN’s NBA insiders ranked the Phoenix Suns as one of the teams most likely to tumble in the upcoming 2025-2026 NBA season.

Mat Ishbia:

I'm not worried about what the so-called experts think. They had us as a title contender the past two years and were wrong then. We're focused on making our fans proud by playing great as a team and building a brand of basketball that's tough and gritty.

Making the Suns an even bigger joke nationally. Almost everyone is laughing at this one. I'm not.

But hey, why doom n gloom when you got Ishbia and Booker leading the way. Its gonna be such a fun season following those two winners.