Why Mat Ishbia Thinks 26 Teams Would Love to Switch Places with Phoenix Suns

Mat Ishbia Still Believes in the Phoenix Suns

During the Suns exit interviews on Wednesday, Ishbia said that he thinks that a great majority of general managers in the league would love to switch places with Phoenix “as is.”

Via Kellan Olson of Empire Of The Suns:

“It’s extremely fixable. Let’s just be real. Although this isn’t a cool narrative and the national media really won’t want to play it out there but ask the other 29 other GMs, 26 of them would trade their whole team for our whole team and our draft picks and everything as is. The house is not on fire. We’re in a great position. it’s not hard to fix. It’s not like we’re like, ‘Hey guys, we don’t have enough talent to win a championship.’ We have enough talent to win a championship.

On paper, the Suns should still be a formidable team next season, assuming they still have the core trio of Booker, Beal, and Durant. But given the ton of assets they had to give up in order to acquire Durant and Beal, the Suns are not left much to look forward to in the coming years. That’s not a healthy sign for franchise continuity. However, the Suns can opt to trade Beal or Durant. Finding suitors for either player would likely vary in terms of interest. Beal has an onerous contract plus the Suns would need him to waive his no-trade clause for them to move him. Durant, meanwhile, is easier to trade, largely because he’s still productive.

In any case, it is going to be an interesting offseason for the Suns.