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Suns Owner Mat Ishbia Shuts Down Funniest Possible Trade Idea

Stephen Douglas

Dillon Brooks is untouchable in Phoenix.
Dillon Brooks is untouchable in Phoenix. / Thomas Shea-Imagn Images
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The Houston Rockets beat the Phoenix Suns, 100-97, on Monday night. Kevin Durant hit the game-winner against his former team and admitted that it felt good to get revenge because he felt like he was "kicked out" and "scapegoated."

The game came hours after DeMarcus Cousins went on the FanDuelTV show Run It Back and said that the Los Angeles Lakers should trade Austin Reaves for Dillon Brooks. Cousins called Brooks a "culture changer" and "proven winner." The clip was then posted by the (non-parody) NBA Central account.

While most people had a good chuckle at the clip for reasons such as Brooks was on a team that won exactly one playoff series four years ago and we're talking about Austin Reaves here, one person who was not laughing was Suns owner Mat Ishbia. He quote-tweeted the clip saying, "Don't bother calling... Suns aren't interested. Dillon's not going anywhere."

There's a lot going on there, but the wildest part is Ishbia implying that Dillon Brooks is untouchable. While he is having a very good season, let's be honest. Ishbia has said similar things before. For instance, there was a time when he said Kevin Durant wasn't going anywhere either.

Like when Durant trade rumors were swirling around the 2024 NBA draft.

A month later Ishbia appeared on a Summer League broadcast and insisted that they didn't put the team together for a "one-year try," and said that they loved their big three of Devin Booker, Kevin Durant and Bradley Beal, as well as the supporting cast of Jusuf Nurkic, Grayson Allen, Royce O'Neal and Bol Bol. The majority of the players in that sentence are no longer with the team one season and 18 months later.

Last summer the team waived Beal and traded Durant despite the fact that in November, right after the season started, Ishbia said expected Durant to sign an extension and be with the team longterm.

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Stephen Douglas
STEPHEN DOUGLAS

Stephen Douglas is a senior writer on the Breaking and Trending News team at Sports Illustrated. He has worked in media since 2008 and now casts a wide net with coverage across all sports. Douglas spent more than a decade with The Big Lead and previously wrote for Uproxx and The Sporting News. He has three children, two degrees and one now unverified Twitter account.

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