“That’s Not How You Win in Any Business”: Suns Owner Mat Ishbia Reflects on Trading for Kevin Durant

2022 sparked a new era for Phoenix Suns basketball. Former owner Robert Sarver agreed to sell the team to Matt Ishbia for $4 billion in December 2022. Most owners don’t really concern themselves with ever inner-working of the team. However, Ishbia hit the ground running.

“James Jones said, ‘Listen, if we can go over the luxury tax, we can go make a run at the championship,” Ishbia said on The Zach Lowe Show. “I said, ‘Listen, money’s not going to hold us back. Let’s go compete for a championship.”

The Suns were 19-13 when Ishbia bought the team. In a matter of days, he pulled the trigger to land two-time NBA champion Kevin Durant. The move paired Devin Booker with one of the greatest players in NBA history. That duo had the potential to be a dominant force in the Western Conference for years to come. Unfortunately, it’s not always that straight forward.

Cut to nearly three years, and Durant is no longer on the team. To make matters worse, the Suns only have one playoff series win to show for in the Durant era. Ishbia’s hopes of propelling the Suns to a championship had fallen well short of the mark. So, what went wrong?

“In retrospect, it wasn’t the right move. I’m not one of those guys who’ll be like, ‘Let’s tear it down and spend seven years trying to build it back up. Get picks in 2034 and figure it out.’ That’s not my personality. But what I learned from it is that’s not how you win in any business, definitely not in the basketball business,” Ishbia confessed.

It only makes sense that Ishbia would make a few mistakes as an owner. After all, it’s his first time owning a professional sports team. But his situation is uniquely criticized because his mistake was a spectacle as much as it was a gamble.

Typically, a failure like that would set a team back multiple years. However, the Suns seem to have recovered extremely well.

Many projected Phoenix would be among the bottom feeders of the West this season post-Kevin Durant. Instead, they have become one of the best stories in the league.

The Suns currently hold a 30-19 record and sit sixth in the West. Remarkably, they have been able to achieve this success without Jalen Green for most of the season.

Of course, they are still a bit far from being a championship contender, and Ishbia is aware of that. Regardless, he won’t make another drastic irrational move as he did once before. This time around, he will ensure it is either the right trade or signing to propel the Suns over the hump.