Scott Seldin

Suns Notes: Ishbia, Lawsuits, Williams, Centers, Butler, Jones

October 19th, 2025 at 9:02am CST by Luke Adams

A pair of Suns minority owners dismissed their lawsuit against majority owner Mat Ishbia and the team on Friday, but intend to file a new suit over what their lawyer refers to as Ishbia’s “mismanagement” of the franchise, reports Mike Vorkunov of The Athletic.

It’s the latest development in a legal battle within the Suns’ ownership group. Andy Kohlberg (Kisco WC Sports) and Scott Seldin (Kent Circle Investments) sued the Suns and Ishbia in August, alleging that they weren’t being permitted to view records and financial information that would help them understand how the team was being run and how much their shares are worth. Ishbia filed a countersuit earlier this week, arguing that the initial suit was part of a negative PR campaign against him as those minority owners sought a buyout at an “extortionate” cost.

“Our clients succeeded in their books and records action in obtaining information we were seeking and have discontinued that case,” Michael Carlinsky, an attorney representing Kohlberg and Seldin, said in a statement, per Vorkunov. “We are now focused on the critical phase in our litigation, which will involve our clients’ assertion of claims for mismanagement and other misconduct and look forward to their day in court.”

Ishbia and the Suns remain confident that nothing will come of the new suit.

“This is more of the same from litigious limited partners who are using the courts to try to leverage a buyout,” Suns spokesperson Stacey Mitch said. “They dropped their books and records complaint because the organization is and has been fully transparent about its operations and success. We are confident that we will prevail in court.”

We have more on the Suns:

After taking part in a competitive scrimmage on Saturday, Suns center Mark Williams is on track to be available for the team when the regular season tips off on Wednesday, writes Duane Rankin of The Arizona Republic. “This was the most minutes he’s seen in a scrimmage that we’ve played,” head coach Jordan Ott said. “Mark is big. You can see his size out there, both ends. Offensively, puts pressure on the rim. Defensively, when someone is driving in there, you have to make the decision.” Phoenix has taken a cautious approach with Williams this fall due to his extensive injury history — he has played just 106 of 246 possible regular season games during his first three years in the NBA.
While Williams is expected to start at center, Ott said the rotation in the middle will be “fluid” early in the season, per Rankin. Oso Ighodaro, Nick Richards, and rookie Khaman Maluach will also be in the mix. “On a night-to-night basis, we’ll have a plan going into it, but we have to be a little fluid as coaches and kind of read the games and see exactly who is impacting winning out there on the court on a night-to-night basis,” Ott explained.
According to Rankin, Ott called it a “really tough” decision to cut Jared Butler, who had a big preseason with the Suns while on a non-guaranteed Exhibit 9 contract. Butler averaged 15.5 points, 4.2 assists, 3.2 rebounds, and 1.8 steals in 20.9 minutes per game across four preseason outings, but was waived because Phoenix is operating slightly over the tax line and apparently doesn’t plan to fill its 15th roster spot for now. “He was part of us for multiple months,” Ott said of Butler. “He really helped our group. Helped his teammates. Helped our intensity of camp. … Hopefully at the end of it, JB knows that we tried to do the best we could. Hopefully, we helped him.”
Former Suns general manager James Jones said on Thursday that his time in Phoenix was “phenomenal” and spoke about his new role in the NBA’s league office. Rankin has the highlights in a story for The Arizona Republic.

Mat Ishbia Countersues Suns’ Minority Shareholders

October 14th, 2025 at 1:18pm CST by Luke Adams

Suns owner Mat Ishbia has filed a countersuit against a pair of minority owners who sued Ishbia and the team earlier this year, according to Mike Vorkunov of The Athletic.

That original suit, which was brought forth in August by Andy Kohlberg (Kisco WC Sports) and Scott Seldin (Kent Circle Investments), alleged that Ishbia wasn’t allowing them to view records and financial information that would help them understand how the franchise is being run and how much their shares are worth. Kohlberg and Seldin, expressing dissatisfaction with Ishbia’s management of the team, were reportedly seeking a buyout from the majority owner at a price point of $825MM, which would value the Suns at $6 billion.

Ishbia, who bought the Suns in 2023 at a valuation of $4 billion, offered to buy out the team’s minority owners when he took over control of the franchise and says that Kohlberg and Seldin were the only ones who passed on the offer.

Ishbia’s new suit states that he has invested significantly in the Suns and the WNBA’s Phoenix Mercury since buying the team and sought funds on a capital call in June to “cover payroll, luxury tax payments and other near-term obligations,” per Vorkunov. The suit also alleges that Kohlberg and Seldin didn’t want to invest during that round of fundraising and that their lawsuit was part of a negative PR campaign against Ishbia as they sought a buyout from him at an “extortionate” cost.

“When Mat Ishbia bought the Suns and Mercury, he couldn’t have been clearer with investors: he was going to invest in the teams, the fans, and the community,” an Ishbia spokesperson said in a statement. “Every investor had the choice at that point — sell at premium or stay in and invest alongside him. Andy Kohlberg and Scott Seldin want it both ways. They don’t want to invest in the teams, but they are demanding a payday significantly higher than what Mat originally offered, which was still over 20 times their original investment. That’s not how it works, and we’re confident we’ll prevail in court.”

There has been no shortage of legal battles in Phoenix since Ishbia took over the team. Outside of this dispute between the team’s investors, several former employees have filed lawsuits against the Suns, alleging discrimination, harassment, and wrongful termination, per Vorkunov. Ishbia said at media day that he wasn’t looking to settle those suits.

“The truth is, you actually got to win a lawsuit,” he said. “And where I’m different than most successful people … is like, we don’t settle. If we don’t do anything wrong, I’m not paying someone. I hope you guys all report on how many lawsuits we actually lose.”

Suns Sued By Two Minority Shareholders

August 27th, 2025 at 1:16pm CST by Luke Adams

A pair of Suns minority shareholders – Andy Kohlberg of Kisco WC Sports and Scott Seldin of Kent Circle Investments – have sued the team in a Delaware Chancery Court, reports Michael McCann of Sportico. The minority owners say in their complaint that they’re “dissatisfied” with the way Suns Capital Group LLC (Mat Ishbia‘s group) has managed the team.

As McCann details, Kisco and Kent Circle claim they haven’t been allowed to view records and financial information that would help them understand how the franchise is being run and how much their shares are worth. They’re demanding a court order that would allow them to look into alleged “potential breaches of a limited liability company agreement, mismanagement of the team and conflicts of interest,” McCainn writes.

According to Gerald Bourguet of PHNX Sports, when Ishbia took over as the Suns’ controlling owner in 2023, he gave the team’s 16 limited partners the opportunity to sell their stakes in the team at the same $4 billion valuation that applied to his majority stake. Fourteen of the 16 partners took that buyout offer, with Kisco and Kent Circle representing the only two holdouts.

Kisco has since sought a buyout from Ishbia’s group; there are conflicting reports on whether Kent Circle has done the same. Bourguet’s report suggests both minority stakeholders have looked to be bought out, while McCann says Kent Circle hasn’t done so but has expressed “growing concerns” about management.

The price that Kisco and Kent Circle are demanding from Suns Capital Group LLC to buy them out is based on a valuation in excess of $6 billion, according to Bourguet. The complaint, per McCann, alleges that Ishbia’s LLC didn’t respond in good faith to Kisco’s efforts to divest its shares by June 1 and instead issued a capital call for June 2 with “no advance notice.” The per-unit valuation conveyed on that call was “strikingly low and bears no relationship to the actual value of the company which is worth billions,” according to the plaintiffs.

In a letter to Kisco and Kent Circle, Suns Capital Group LLC indicated it has no objections to the minority partners finding another buyer for their shares, per Bourguet. However, the majority ownership groups insists that the minority stakeholders have no right to demand Ishbia’s LLC be the one to buy them out at a significantly higher valuation than the 2023 price.

Kisco and Kent Circle, meanwhile, argue in their complaint that the majority ownership group has been putting pressure on and diluting the team’s minority owners, citing “mismanagement and lack of transparency.”

According to Bourguet, the plaintiffs suspect Ishbia’s group of entering into undisclosed side deals and also raised questions about the funding of a practice facility for the WNBA’s Phoenix Mercury. As McCann writes, the complaint states that facility was “seemingly paid for using” team funds but that the minority stakeholders were “provided virtually no information” about how it was funded or the process used to determine its funding.

Attorneys for Suns Capital Group LLC will have the opportunity to respond to the complaint, McCann notes.