Phoenix Suns owner Mat Ishbia, who acquired the team in 2023, held a press conference yesterday where he described how disappointed he was with the 2024-25 campaign.
“First off, embarrassing season, right?” Ishbia said. “Disappointed. Awful. I watch every game like all you guys do. No one’s proud of it. No one’s happy with it, from me to the front office, to the coaches and players, to the marketing executives, to the security guards. Everyone is disappointed… It was a failure.”
Ishbia discussed how the product the Suns put out on a nightly basis wasn’t enjoyable.
“It wasn’t fun to watch, right? It wasn’t fun to watch our team lose and not compete at the level that we all expected,” he stated. “I’m here to be accountable, just like our players, coaches, front office.”
“I don’t scout. I don’t watch film… My role is to enable.”
— Mat Ishiba on his role in the Suns organization
(via @PHNX_Suns) pic.twitter.com/O6Z67KGez5
— Legion Hoops (@LegionHoops) April 17, 2025
Ishbia then claimed that the organization is “gonna make some changes.”
“As the owner, my job is to make those changes and do things differently,” he explained. “What we just tried and did our last two and a half years has not been as successful as we had hoped… We will make changes.”
Ishbia then did something that we rarely see in professional sports: he took accountability for his organization’s shortcomings.
“I have to do a better job of setting the identity of the Phoenix Suns,” he said. “I want to put a team out there, on the court, that everyone is proud of. It has to have an identity – an identity similar to Phoenix. Some grit, some determination, some work ethic, some grind, some joy. We just haven’t had that… That’s a change that’s coming. It will be undeniable. You will know the difference next year.”
Suns owner Mat Ishbia on firing Mike Budenholzer (via @azfamily):
“The team, and the roster that was constructed, is much better than a 36-win roster. There’s a lot of reasons why Coach Bud is not here.”
A harsh, direct shot placing a lot of blame for this year on Budenholzer. pic.twitter.com/8B0Ij6UhT3
— Evan Sidery (@esidery) April 17, 2025
“It was a disappointing season,” he continued. “But we will set the identity of the Phoenix Suns and Phoenix Suns basketball. It’s gonna be very much aligned with this community, with Phoenix. I’m excited about those changes.”
Ishbia already made one significant change when he, CEO Josh Bartelstein, and general manager James Jones parted ways with head coach Mike Budenholzer after one season.
“There’s gonna be a lot of change,” he said. “Coach Bud, that change was made. That didn’t need more evaluation. Everything is going to be evaluated… We’re gonna look for someone that fits the vision of the Phoenix Suns basketball organization… Someone that’s a little bit grimy, a little bit grinder, a little bit tough.”
“We’ve got to get the next hire right, and we will,” Ishbia added. “The team and the roster that was constructed by James (Jones), Josh (Bartelstein), the scouts, the front office, is much better than a 36-win roster. There’s a lot of reasons why Coach Bud is not here… I wish him the best, but it was the wrong coach for our organization and for that team.”
