Mat Ishbia's Hands-On Involvement With Suns is Getting Heavy Backlash

PHOENIX -- Phoenix Suns owner Mat Ishbia is not afraid to put himself out there even if people don't agree with his ways.

After going back and forth with Kevin Durant on X last weekend, Ishbia said he didn't regret the exchange in a recent interview.

Ishbia then made an appearance on ESPN's "Brian Windhorst & The Hoop Collective" podcast where he discussed his involvement with basketball operations.

"Everyone says when you buy a team, 'Buy the team and just let them do their thing.' And I tried that for a year or two," Ishbia said. "(Now), I'm extremely engaged from every detail, every question. We just signed a new two-way player and I was involved with that. Every detail of the team, I'm involved with.

"And if people don't like that, then they're not going to be Phoenix Suns and Phoenix Mercury fans. If they do like that, we'll see how the results come out. But we're going to do our best and we're completely aligned."

This isn't the first time Ishbia has talked about how much say he has in decisions, especially after he started his time with the Suns giving them free rein with money, which led to the trades for Durant and Bradley Beal and did not end up working out.

"When I first bought the team (in February 2023), we tried to spend money and do different things, and we didn't create an identity," Ishbia said. "Now, I've got alignment from me, to the CEO Josh Bartelstein, to the GM Brian Gregory and to the coach Jordan Ott, and then down to our players as well.

"The four of us sit in a room and talk and debate everything. On the playing time and rotations, coach Ott is the final decision maker. On who we draft, Brian Gregory is the final decision maker. Everyone has their role, but everyone's thoughts are put into it, and we come out with what we think is the best thing, and then we go with it together. We hold hands, and we say let's do it."

Former Suns front-office executive (2007-12) and current NBA analyst Amin Elhassan appeared on Yahoo! Sports' "The Kevin O'Connor Show" and did not hold back his thoughts on what Ishbia said.

"Mat Ishbia was on with Brian Windhorst, and he’s like bragging about being hands-on with the two-way signings. I don’t want an owner who does that," Elhassan said.

"I love the passion, but at the end of the day, I really believe if you’re an owner, your job is to tell these people what’s the maximum we can spend, and then within those parameters, do whatever you can to help them out with resources, with whatever. That’s what your job is, right? And to set the vision, right? But to be in there on the two-way guy, I know he’s saying it thinking like, ‘Everyone’s going to love that. Oh, this is how much I care about this.’ I don’t. I hear that, and instant red flags go up for me.”

Ishbia's increased involvement with the team paid dividends last season when the Suns exceeded all preseason expectations and had a clear culture after moving on from Durant and Beal.

After getting blown out in the season opener, Ishbia and the Suns will look to prove this strategy can be effective once again this year even if some people disagree with it.