Mat Ishbia realizes dream as new owner of Suns and Mercury

JOEL ZOLONDEK | SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH NEWS

The NBA’s Phoenix Suns and WNBA’s Phoenix Mercury organization’s new majority owner Mat Ishbia’s press conference at the Footprint Center in downtown Phoenix was a family affair, featuring his three children, parents Jeff and Joanne Ishbia and his brother, Justin. His new basketball family was represented by former Suns players Kevin Johnson, Tom Chambers, Dan Majerle, Cedric Ceballos, Alvin Adams and Ann Myers Drysdale, Hall of Fame star and vice president of the Mercury. In attendance were members of the local and national media, Phoenix dignitaries, including Mayor Kate Gallego, community leaders and Ishbia’s business associates. The sale of the team, which was valued at $4 billion, was approved by the other NBA owners on Feb. 8, 2023.

Ishbia expressed his passion and gratitude for the game of basketball. He said, “basketball is a huge part of my life, always has been.” He was a high school guard at Seaholm High School in Birmingham, Michigan, a suburb of Detroit. He was the team captain and averaged 25 points a game as a senior and was named Jewish athlete of the year by the Detroit Jewish News.

In a January 23, 1998, interview with the Detroit Jewish News, his coach Dave Watkins said, “His basketball IQ is as high as anybody I’ve had on the team, and I’ve had some pretty good players the last six years. He really understands the game. He’s not the tallest or quickest, but you would be hard pressed to find anybody smarter than him on the court.”

Ishbia said in the article, “I think that I understand the game and enjoy it. I always like to be around it.”

At Michigan State University, Ishbia secured the last spot on the Spartan’s varsity team under coach Tom Izzo. He was on three NCAA final four teams, including the winning 2000 National Championship team. He earned his bachelor’s degree in business administration from the Eli Broad College of Business at Michigan State in 2003. He has been a prominent alum and in 2021 pledged $32 million to help expand its athletic facilities. Izzo stated, “what Mat Ishbia has done for our university and our program, for me in particular, is humbling and sort of tear jerking as anything that has happened to me.”

Ishbia was introduced by Suns’ broadcaster Tom Leander who said, “we are here to celebrate new beginnings.”

When he took the stage, he walked past the lectern and said, “I am not a stand-infront-of-the-podium guy,” and proceeded to speak to the crowd of more than 200 people for about 20 minutes without using any notes.

He started by saying that he was honored to be part of the great Suns and Mercury tradition and continuing in the path of the legendary Jerry Colangelo. Robert Sarver, who bought the team from Colangelo in 2004, was praised by Ishbia for selecting him to purchase the team.

On Arizona Sports Ron Wolfley’s radio interview Feb. 10, Jerry Colangelo remarked “first of all, before the actual announcement, Mat Ishbia reached out to me. He wanted to make contact. We had a great meeting and I got to know him somewhat. He wanted to engage me as a mentor. Quite honestly, I think it’s a breath of fresh air. I think the fans in Phoenix will be well served under this new leadership.”

At the press conference, Ishbia expressed his core values stressing, “doing the right thing, all the time, for the community.

I look at it as a community asset, and I am the steward of it.” In terms of how the organization will function, he shared his “Four Focuses for Success:” culture, fan experience, community impact and winning basketball.

His vision of the Sun’s and Mercury’s corporate cultures will be centered around all the “team members” — meaning all of the people in the organization, not just the players. He emphasized that “you can’t win without great people.” He will recruit and train his team members “so that they will never want to leave. The thing I look for is work ethic, leadership and attitude, these are things I value.”

Ishbia grew Michigan-based United Wholesale Mortgage from 12 to 7,000 employees in only 20 years, taking over the company from his father, Jeff, who founded it as a side business to his law practice. United Wholesale Mortgage is now the largest mortgage company in the country and was taken public in 2021.

The experience the fans have is important to Ishbia. “We can’t win every game, but we can win every fan’s heart, even when we lose,” he said. “Making fans feel good about coming to the Footprint Center and rooting for the teams is going to be stressed by having the team members and players being fan friendly.”

Ishbia wants to have an “amazing community impact” by contributing to local hospitals and children’s organizations through the work of the Phoenix Suns Charities.

When it comes to winning, Ishbia wants to “think big.” He said, “I want the teams to be best in class, to become an elite franchise.”

On Wednesday night, before the Feb. 9 NBA trading deadline, Ishbia showed his ability to make a blockbuster deal, bringing All-Star Kevin Durant to the Suns. It is the most notable trade in the NBA this season, and the biggest acquisition for the Suns since Jerry Colangelo traded for player Charles Barkley in 1992. Ishbia seized the moment to give his new team a chance for an NBA title this season.

Ishbia’s older brother, Justin, remarked that the two would play one-on-one games on their court at home. One day he came home from college to find Ishbia shooting over an 8-foot tall obstacle that their dad had erected. Justin asked his 16-year-old brother why he was practicing in that way, since there were no eight footers playing high school basketball. Ishbia replied “I’m going to be in the NBA one day.”

On Wednesday February 8, 2023, Ishbia realized his dream. JN