Phoenix Suns owner Mat Ishbia predicts team will win opening round playoff series — and the NBA season hasn't even started

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Incoming Phoenix Suns owner Mat Ishbia smiles during the game between the Detroit Pistons and Phoenix Suns at Little Caesars Arena on February 04, 2023 in Detroit, Michigan. 

Nic Antaya | Getty Images

Mat Ishbia says owning the NBA's Phoenix Suns and the WNBA's Phoenix Mercury isn't enough — winning is what he really wants.

Ishbia has owned the Suns and the Mercury since 2023. He and his brother, Justin, own a minority stake in MLB's Chicago White Sox. Justin will take over as controlling owner of the Sox in the coming years. 

But unlike billionaires such as Stan Kroenke, Josh Harris and John Henry, who all own multiple teams, Ishbia says he's not interested in building a sports conglomerate. He's only interested in buying teams if he thinks he can move the needle on winning.

"I have different goals. Those guys are obviously doing great things. But my view is not to be some sports empire," Ishbia told CNBC Sport in an exclusive interview. "I'm not making investments in sports. I'm buying a team that I can impact and help win and help compete and do some cool things with the fans."

That's not a common message among many sports investors these days, who seem to be desperate for ways to put their money into live sports teams even as valuations climb higher and higher.

Ishbia said that as the owner of both the Suns and the Mercury he's extremely hands-on. "I'm very active in the Phoenix Suns and Phoenix Mercury at a high, high level right now, and I get very much in the weeds," he told me. "If I can't impact it in a positive way, I'm not going to do it. So I'm not just making investments here and there."

That puts pressure on Ishbia to deliver. The Mercury made the WNBA Finals in 2025 but fell back to 16-28 this year, making them one of the worst teams in the league.

The Suns shipped All-Star forward Kevin Durant off to the Houston Rockets and still managed to make the playoffs last season (where they were swept in the first round by the Oklahoma City Thunder). But this season the Western Conference is stacked with teams with credible championship ambitions, including the Thunder, the San Antonio Spurs, the Denver Nuggets, and the Minnesota Timberwolves.

That said, Ishbia isn't shying away from making concrete predictions about this season for the Suns.

"You should be thinking that we're going to be better than we were last year," he said. "As in, we're going to make the playoffs. We're going to win the first playoff series."

Ishbia bought the Suns and the Mercury for a combined $4 billion. Less than four years later, CNBC values the two teams together at just shy of $7 billion. 

Ishbia told CNBC he recently turned down an offer for a small minority stake in the team ("a couple percent") that would have valued the two teams together at more than $8 billion.

"I think most people will put my basketball teams, the Suns and Mercury, at between an $8-and-$9 billion valuation right now, and I think that that's going to continue to grow," Ishbia said.

Mark Walter, CEO of Guggenheim Partners and TWG Global, agreed to sell his majority stake in the Lakers in August, less than a year after acquiring control of the team. Prior to the transaction, there had been a flurry of media reports about federal criminal and civil investigations into the accounting and disclosures involving Walter's insurance businesses. In August, TWG Global issued a statement saying, "despite what has been reported, there has been no fraud."

Ishbia says the Walter sale has put more attention on his outside businesses — primarily United Wholesale Mortgage (UWM), the nation's largest mortgage lender. Ishbia and his family control the company, and Ishbia is the CEO.

UWM shares are down about 80% in the past 12 months amid a weak housing market. In 2024, Hunterbrook Media investigated UWM's alleged practice of turning independent mortgage brokers into non-independent funnels for billions of dollars of mortgages. "Litigators and mortgage experts say UWM's conduct could constitute fraud and run afoul of laws passed after 2008 to protect borrowers," Hunterbrook reported. 

At least two lawsuits were filed against the company in the wake of Hunterbrook's analysis. Some of the claims are ongoing and some have been dismissed by a judge.

In August, UWM suspended its dividend. Hunterbrook wrote another story questioning the hedging practices of the company.

"Considering Hunterbrook's history of publishing inaccurate allegations that have spawned multiple litigation matters, many of the claims have been resolved in UWM's favor, it is difficult to view this inquiry as a legitimate journalistic exercise," a UWM spokesperson told Hunterbrook in August.   

Ishbia said UWM is in excellent health.

"We had a great third quarter," said Ishbia of the upcoming earnings period. Ishbia said he's already seen the numbers.

"We're the best mortgage company in the country, so we are the best," he said. "We're not relying on only rates dropping. We do 60%-plus purchase business. The more purchase business you do is less reliant on rates. People aren't going to refinance when rates are 7% but they're still going to buy houses."

Ishbia said UWM's share performance will have no impact on his ownership of the Suns. He said during the Suns' media day on Sept. 28 that he plans to own the team for the next "40, 50 years."

According to an SEC filing, his holding company, SFS Corp, took out five loans with JPMorgan with principal amounts of $610 million, $605 million, $435 million, $225 million and $460 million which mature in 2028, 2029, 2028, 2029 and 2030, respectively. 

A spokesman for Ishbia said the loans are actually credit facilities available to Ishbia and his family members, and the amounts owed on the facilities are nowhere near the amount available to them.

"I don't owe JPMorgan billions of dollars in loans," Ishbia said. "I've got enough money in my bank account, and I have enough money in my business, outside of my mortgage business, outside of my basketball business, that I'm doing great."

Ishbia promised never to purposefully tank a season while he's owner of the Suns. The NBA has made tanking more difficult by changing the draft rules beginning in 2027 to disincentivize purposeful losing. And that's just fine with Ishbia.

"I don't believe in that whole, 'you win for a couple years and you're gonna tank.' That whole tanking thing is for losers. I don't believe in it. I'm never gonna be part of it. I'm glad the NBA got rid of that nonsense," Ishbia said.

He also said the league is working on a "new contest" for NBA All-Star weekend, though he declined to give details on it. The All-Star Game is in Phoenix in February.

Ishbia wants "more star power" in the game and said he's speaking to NBA Commissioner Adam Silver about new ideas to bring in a higher number of the league's top players.