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Inside the Suns’ Decision-Making with Mat Ishbia | The Zach Lowe Show



Inside the Suns’ Decision-Making with Mat Ishbia | The Zach Lowe Show

Suns owner Mat Ishbia joins Zach Lowe to break down the Suns’ surprisingly strong season and what’s gone right in Phoenix. They dive into how the team is approaching the upcoming trade deadline, revisit major past trades that shaped the franchise, and reflect on the lessons learned along the way. The conversation wraps with Ishbia’s thoughts on the future of the NBA, including the possibility of league expansion and the one rule he would change if he could.

(0:00) Welcome to The Zach Lowe Show!
(02:54) How are the Suns approaching the trade deadline?
(05:03) What’s Ishbia’s best Dillon Brooks story from watching him courtside?
(06:09) It’s surprising how good Collin Gillespie has been
(06:52) The Kevin Durant trade
(11:02) Does Isaiah Thomas have any formal role with the team?
(15:41) Biggest surprise of owning an NBA team?

Host: Zach Lowe
Guest: Mat Ishbia
Producers: Mike Wargon, Jonathan Frias, and Billy Gil
Social: Keith Fujimoto

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41 Comments

  1. Greatest owner currently in the state of AZ! He made it easy for fans to watch the game at home or with friends for free…he lowered the concession prices at the arena to make it an affordable and enjoyable experience for fans.

  2. as much shit as Zach and Bill have given Ishbia the last couple years seems like a good sport

  3. You can’t change the play off format for East vs West. It would mess with the Gambling Brackets. Additionally you have time zones and travel time to consider, as well as east vs west coast rivalry. The fact that Matt Ishiba doesn’t recognize this, gives me great concern. This is business 101 for sports.

  4. If all these guys really loved the game then the game wouldn't feel like such a slog with such long time outs and commercial breaks at every possible chance.

  5. Glad to see Zach admit that he was wrong about the Suns. Not that it was an outrageous opinion to think they'd be bad. Even the majority of Suns fans entered the season with low expectations, but when a team exceeds them you have to tip your hat. Ishbia's an awesome owner who's delivered on his promises this season. He and the FO built us a team that plays hard and one that fans could be proud of. It's been extremely refreshing after the last two years.

  6. 19:37
    They need to extend the out of bounds area for player safety.
    I’m sure it’s awesome for the fans that can afford courtside seats to be right next to the players, but having to constantly worry about colliding with fans and chairs when hustling after the ball is not good for the game.
    Also they need to focus on reducing or someday maybe even eliminating back-to-backs.

  7. GUILLERMO!!!!

    Apologies for just now noticing the name, Billy Gil, listed as a producer! I knew you landed a great gig w/ The Ringer so I should have connected the dots that you were now one of the producers of my favorite NBA pod. This would be cheesy if it wasn't a direct quote from you "Oh god, a home run…" of a hire (Angel of Nuance tilted your quote to be used in a positive way). The magic of The Shipping Container and the organic chemistry and greatness which resulted in a decade-plus of "The Dan LeBatard Show with Stugotz" will never be matched. Thank you for your grind over the years. Time to take a stroll….

  8. Another great pod but I still think the booker and Durant would work but the biggest mistake when they shouldn't trade for beal instead of getting couple of though guys instead paying brad beal 50 mil per yr and he doesn't fit with durant and booker bec having a big 3 with no defense and toughness people makes mistakes and learn

  9. The housing crises is absolutely going to happen again. Nothing has really changed.

  10. I don’t know if there really was a plan, it seems a lot more likely they just tried to rectify some early mistakes and got lucky that it all worked out. But it is really cool how this team is succeeding playing hard nosed basketball.

  11. Got to give the man his due. He said he would turn the Suns around and he did it a LOT faster than anyone thought, even with a terrible draft pick in Malauch and a total uphill battle with how bad this team was last yr.
    Not a Suns fan so i dont really care,but there was a lot of chatter of how bad an owner he was and how his only interest was making himself money. Where are those ppl now ?

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