Mat Ishbia Sounds Unsuccessful In NBA – ‘Losing His Temper’

Phoenix Suns the owner Mat Ishbia added his voice to talk about tanks in the NBA. Ishbia took to his own X issued a bold statement against the practice, citing an article by Yahoo Sports writer Tom Haberstroh.

He called the snitch strategy “ridiculous” and said: “it’s loser behavior by losers.”

“This is ridiculous! Tanking is loser behavior by losers. Losing on purpose is something no one should want to be associated with. Shame on the league and the organizations. And talking about it as a ‘strategy’ is ridiculous. If you’re a bad team, you get a good pick. That makes sense. But it’s intentional player termination and intentional game shutdown and impact on all players. league.”

He also says it’s worse than the prop betting scandal, equating it to strategic game-fixing.

“This is far worse than any betting scandal. This is strategic game-fixing. Terrible for the fans who pay to watch and root for their team. And terrible for all the real teams competing for playoff spots.”

Ishbia’s comments are noteworthy, as he joins a growing chorus of NBA executives, media members and fans who believe something needs to be done about the practice. Ishbia’s comments, in particular, ring true as his team has undergone a renaissance since missing the playoffs last year. When Ishbia took over the Suns after the ousting of Robert Sarver, he orchestrated the trade of Kevin Durant from the Brooklyn Nets to the Phoenix Suns. He then pushed for the trade that sent Chris Paul to the Wizards in exchange for Bradley Beal.

In both the Beal and Durant trades, the Suns sacrificed several first-round picks. Now it is twice less than victory. Even when the team’s ability to assemble a Big Three with Devin Booker, Kevin Durant and Bradley Beal went awry, Ishbia and the Suns turned around.

Instead of looking for first-round capital to restock and rebuild the team, the Suns built around the margin, acquiring Dillon Brooks and Jalen Green from the Rockets in exchange for Kevin Durant, as well as gaining more frontcourt size by trading for Mark Williams.

Now the Suns are 32-23 and in seventh place in the Western Conference; they are just two games behind the Timberwolves for sixth place and three games behind the Nuggets for the third seed. Perhaps Ishbia sees the Suns’ quick roster overhaul as a standard for how the team should rebuild.

The Suns travel to San Antonio tonight at 8:30 PM ET to face Victor Vembanyama and the Spurs.