Suns Owner Mat Ishbia Said Kevin Durant Trade Was Unanimous
It's been a couple weeks since the Phoenix Suns acquired Kevin Durant, and it still somewhat doesn't feel like reality.
The Suns previously engaged in talks with the Brooklyn Nets over the summer but were unable to come to terms on a deal.
That wasn't the case with Mat Ishbia, Phoenix's new owner who was officially introduced at a press conference in front of reporters at the Footprint Center before landing a deal for Durant less than 12 hours later.
The NBA trade deadline has come and gone. Durant jerseys with his classic number 35 are being sold everywhere. Downtown Phoenix even featured his face on a billboard on the day of Durant's official unveiling to Suns fans.
Losing key players such as Mikal Bridges and Cam Johnson is sure to string, but when speaking with Sports Illustrated's Chris Mannix, Ishbia says the move to get Durant was unanimous across the front office.
"It was. This was the right decision for the team and for the business and for the players. It wasn't a tough decision. We really didn't want to give up some of the guys, because we love those guys. They were winners and we didn't want to give them up," said Ishbia.
"But at the end of the day the right decision was, what do we do to maximize our team for today and for the next three to four years? This is going to be what the Phoenix Suns are about. The vision is not, ‘Let's win a championship.’ Of course we'd like to. But the vision is, ‘We're going to be the leading franchise in the NBA. How do we do that?’ We have to have a culture of winning. We have got to make sure the fans love it. We're doing great in the community. We've got to do great there. This is not about just winning this year. We're going to win again in '27 and '29 and '31. We're going to try to win all the time. I'm not into the planning to win phase, I'm in the let's win today phase and let's win tomorrow phase. And you can't always do it, but you're going to try."
That was a message that carried over from Ishbia's first press conference, where he was insistent that he and his staff would do whatever it takes to win.
The jury is still out on if the move for Durant will ultimately pay the necessary dividends, yet it's clear everybody in Phoenix was willing to pull the trigger on that opportunity.
