Mat Ishbia is ruining the Phoenix Suns and blaming everyone else for it

10.05.2024 18:01

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Good morning, Winners! Happy Friday! Welcome back to the Morning Win. Thank you for rocking with us this morning. We appreciate you.

There are some bad team owners in the NBA. James Dolan, Ted Leonsis, Tilman Fertitta. I could go on and on and on. The jury was out on the Suns’ new owner, Mat Ishbia. But I think the case just closed with the Suns firing Frank Vogel after one single season as the team’s head coach.

News of Vogel getting fired broke on Thursday through a report from ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski. I couldn’t call it shocking, really. Somebody’s head had to roll after the Suns’ disappointing season and, well, it certainly wasn’t going to be the team owner’s. But in reality, that’s who’s at fault here.

This Suns team stinks because Mat Ishbia couldn’t just relive his glory days at Michigan State by playing in some random rec league around his way like any other washed-up college athlete would. Nope. He’s too rich for that. Instead, he chose to buy an NBA team and run it into the ground.

See why I keep telling y’all billionaires are dangerous? No one man should have all that power.

Ishbia makes every important decision for this team at this point. The Kevin Durant trade? His doing. The Bradley Beal trade? His choice. He made those moves without even knowing what the second luxury tax apron was.

Charles Barkley was absolutely right. Vogel’s failure here isn’t because he’s an incompetent coach, but instead because his roster stinks. Now, the Suns are locked in with no clear pathway to improvement because the owner made rash decisions without thinking of the consequences.

If they don’t get it done next season, James Jones will probably be next. Mike Budenholzer is reportedly being hired as the new coach. If the team fails again after that? He’d better watch out.

Look, I’m grateful that Ishbia bought the team from Robert Sarver who absolutely needed to go. The NBA is a better league without that man in it. There’s no debating that. I’d take Ishbia over him 12 times out of 10.

But this speedrun to becoming the most incompetent owner in the league has been quite the ride. For Suns fan’s sake, I hope he turns it around soon. I can’t imagine going from being in the NBA Finals a few years ago to this.

The WNBA is expanding north

Mandatory Credit: Vincent Carchietta-USA TODAY Sports

WNBA expansion is coming, folks. The WNBA is reportedly heading to Toronto in 2026, according to reporting from Shireen Ahmed of CBC Sports.

According to the report, Larry Tanenbaum’s Kilmer Sports Inc. has been granted an expansion franchise with the WNBA. The league will make an official announcement on the team on May 23.

We’ve been slowly building toward this for a while. News of Kilmer Sports’ interest was floated out there back in March. Our Meghan Hall wrote back then why it makes sense.

The fans are locked in already. Last year’s WNBA Canada game was a success, per Meg:

“Finally, something else to consider is that fans are also interested in having a team in Toronto. In May 2023, the city held an exhibition game between the Minnesota Lynx and Chicago Sky at Scotiabank Arena. It was the highest-attended preseason game in WNBA history and touted excellent merchandise sales.”

What a week it’s been for the WNBA. First, the league (haphazardly!) announced that its teams will be flying charters this year. Now, it’s expanding again.

You love to see it.

NFL x Netflix?

(Photo by Chris DELMAS / AFP)

The NFL is coming to yet another streaming service near you. The league already has a lock on Amazon with Thursday Night Football. Now, it might be heading to Netflix for Christmas.

Here’s Cory Woodroof with more:

“While this isn’t a done deal just yet, Netflix getting into business with the NFL in this capacity could open up the possibility for even more games to be streamed on the platform in the future.

If you’re not a Netflix subscriber, it sure sounds like you might have to get an account for Christmas this year to catch the two games the league will schedule on the holiday.”

Sigh. Yet another streaming service you’ll have to pay for to watch your favorite teams in sports.

Streaming was fun once upon a time, but I think it’s safe to say we’ve officially jumped the shark. Everyone has a deal with everyone. We all have to pay for multiple services that carry everything we want to watch, including our favorite sports now.

Honestly, at this point? Let’s just go back to cable.