New Suns owner Mat Ishbia‘s swift, decisive decision making thus far with Phoenix could impact how his coaching candidates view the gig, writes Duane Rankin of The Arizona Republic.
As Rankin notes, within 12 hours of Ishbia assuming control over the franchise, the team had already made a massive deal, acquiring forwards Kevin Durant and T.J. Warren from the Nets for young talents Mikal Bridges and Cameron Johnson, along with several draft picks.
Ishbia also was quick to move on from head coach Monty Williams, who possessed a 194-115 regular season record with the club, just two years removed from an NBA Finals berth.
At present, Ishbia is something of a wild card as an owner, which could give some of the finalists for the head coaching vacancy pause.
There’s more out of the Pacific Division:
- The Suns and the Phoenix Mercury, the WNBA team Ishbia also purchased, have made formal bids to host future All-Star Games, Rankin writes in a separate piece. “We’re excited to partner with the city of Phoenix to engage the NBA and WNBA to bring both All-Star Games to the Valley,” Ishbia said. “Phoenix is one of the great basketball cities in the world and the perfect place to bring together the players and fans to celebrate the sport. The Phoenix Suns and Mercury want to continue finding new and important ways to partner with the city to bring real impact to our community.”
- With one of their top front office lieutenants gone, the Clippers face several looming offseason decisions, writes Law Murray of The Athletic. Former Los Angeles GM Michael Winger departed the team to run the Wizards. As Murray notes, 2023/24 marks the final season with injury-prone stars Kawhi Leonard and Paul George on guaranteed deals, as both players hold options for the 2024/25 season. Murray wonders if Clippers team president Lawrence Frank will opt to extend Leonard, George, or head coach Tyronn Lue.
- Though the Lakers could theoretically make a run for the services of Mavericks All-Star point guard Kyrie Irving in free agency or Hawks point guard Trae Young via trade, Mark Medina of The Sporting Tribune believes the club should prioritize roster continuity over splashy names.
Wizards need to stop messing around and start rebuilding which requires tanking and trading overpaid and overrated Beal. Why paying guys like Porzingis or Kuzma when they’ll still not make the playoffs.
They should learn from the Spurs, they traded some assets, stopped competing for play in and it finally paid off big time!
Oh no another offseason of every sport writer pretending the Lakers will trade for every player on every team. Its almost as bad as every sport writer making up trades of players coming to the warriors.
Every year, “lakers will trade a happy meal minus the toy and 8 dollars for KD Trae Young dame and Anthony Edwards in a rare 5 team trade”
I thought a second round pick in 2032 for Embiid sounded fair.
It’s wild that that consistently happens. There’s virtually 0 real Laker fans that actually want or believe the team can trade for either of those guys
The only people who keep writing that are writers looking for views with clickbait.
The problem is said clickbait works because we cannot help but comment on the ridiculousness of the proposals.
That’s all the media is these days. Outrage, purposely exaggerated takes, lies and spin.
What’s the 30 Rock quote? It can be good. It can be terrible. It just can’t be anything in between.
Totally here ya arc
Think it has to do with outside team bases running into every Laker/GSW articles and commenting every time they can….oh wait
Time is a flat circle
*hear, sorry late night
The WNBA has an All-Star game?
Lakers and Celtics always get the preferential treatment. From NBA and the media. Where as NY only gets the criticism warranted or not. Cause they know NY doesn’t need the national media. We are the original sports town. With a fan base twice that of any other city. In any sport.
And the media capital of the world. So it’s like we got too much. It’s entertaining to me. To see the media just try and push narratives. That don’t mean squat to us. But they sell it to rest of nation.
Like Steven A attaching himself to most popular teams. In every sport. To make himself relevant. Then act like he’s always been a Knick fan. I stopped caring what writers think. A long time ago. I read all the time. I want to absorb facts. And get new news. Sometimes there are good takes. But I certainly don’t rely on the media to inform me on ANY sport. I’ll figure it out on my own. The truth is out there. If you really want to know it.
Fact The Knicks Suck
Like you on Brons jock …..
Suns owner played ball. So I respect him controlling the team. He knows what it takes to win. And the coach and your star young center. Should not be banging heads. When you are so close to winning a chip. Suns might have blown it now. Cause this Denver team is in their prime. And will only get better. CP3 window could be closed. So how do they replace him and keep up with Nuggets.
Chris Paul’s injury history was always an issue. Just mine I knew Brogdon would be hurt for the Celtics.