Suns owner Matt Ishbia denies team crisis: ‘This house is not on fire’

Considering the amount of investment and high expectations around the Phoenix franchise this year, mostly due to the squad’s new Big 3 consisted of Devin Booker, Kevin Durant and Bradley Beal, you can definitely call their season a disappointment. However, club owner Matt Ishbia attended the press this week to deny any idea suggesting that they are going through a crisis. 

Crisis or not, nobody expected the Suns to be swept so easily by the Timberwolves in the Western Conference’s first round. Despite Ishbia protecting his team from speculation, he declined to say if the club would retain coach Frank Vogel for next season.

Just last weekend, as the squad was about to confront Game 4 of the series, the team’s tactician revealed that he had Ishbia’s “full support” and was even “very” confident that he would be returning to the Suns next campaign, especially as he signed a five-year, $31 million contract last year.

The Phoenix owner, who bought the club a bit over a year ago, attended the press during the traditional end-of-season media availability at their own Footprint Center. Alongside him was team general manager James Jones. “We’re going to evaluate everything,” Ishbia assured. “Everything is on the table to evaluate. We have just not started it.”

On the other hand, Jones did show his support for Vogel, as he admitted that it isn’t easy to coach a new club that has suffered many roster changes in the past years. “I thought Frank did a great job given the circumstances,” he said. “I thought the staff did a great job. I thought the players did a really good job, just not good enough to reach our goals.”

According to Ishbia, he doesn’t view as a problem that the fans have bigger expectations over the Suns squad. “I love that people are frustrated that we didn’t win an NBA championship, because, guess what? So are we,” he said. “I’m happy where we’re at, from that perspective, that people are disappointed, because, guess what, there’s not someone in the organization that’s more disappointed than me, my GM, my CEO, my players, my coach.

“Everyone’s disappointed, just like the fans. Guess what? I’m going to own the team for 50 years, and probably 45, 46, 47 of those years, we’ll probably have the same conversation — like, hey, we didn’t win the championship, and we’re going to be disappointed then, too. That’s how it’s going to be, and I love it.”

Ishbia dismissed any doubts about his team and explained why there is a bright future for the Phoenix club

The franchise owner remained confident despite the media’s insistence to portray the team’s season as a disappointment. Be that as it may, Ishbia was convinced that the club is only growing in standards and expectations, and sees a clear path towards a brighter future.

“Five in the next eight years, we have a first-round draft pick. I know that’s not a cool thing to say out there because people like to say their narratives that we have no draft picks, but we have five in the next eight years and we can trade two of ’em next month if we want. So it is not like people say we have no flexibility,” he explained.

Matt Ishbia “we’re not worried about what 7th grader we’re going to draft in 2029, we’re worried about winning right now”

this guy is about to hand Brooklyn Lottery picks until 2029😂📈 pic.twitter.com/l4zoLxL7Fe

— NetsFrequent 👑 (@NetsFrequent) May 2, 2024

Jones then took the mic again to agree with his boss. “Going into this offseason, we have everything we need to be able to add the players or the positions that will make us better,” he guaranteed.

The Suns will now enter the summer with $209 million in salary, which is the biggest payroll of any NBA team, while facing a projected luxury tax penalty of $116 million.