Suns GM James Jones Talks Mat Ishbia, Kevin Durant and More

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Phoenix Suns general manager James Jones has had a busy week.
The Suns have introduced Mat Ishbia as their new owner and welcomed Kevin Durant to the Valley within a short time frame from each other. New additions such as TJ Warren, Dariuz Bazley and Terrence Ross have also been supplemented to a roster many expect to make a deep push in the NBA postseason.
Jones hopped on Bally Sports' pregame coverage prior to Phoenix's win over Sacramento last night and touched on a handful of topics:
New Owner Mat Ishbia
"Mat, he's phenomenal. He's inquisitive. He challenges us to think big. I like it. For me, I've always thought about doing bold things, and he's of the same mindset so it's been refreshing to have him in the meetings pushing us to think bigger and better. I'm excited for the future."
Process on Acquiring Kevin Durant
"We had conversations earlier in the summer. Kevin, he had relayed his desire to be in Phoenix. We thought there was an opportunity to get arguably one of the game's greatest players, maybe the best player to don a Suns jersey, in the building. So we thought long and hard about what it would take to get him and ultimately we decided it was worth the cost and worth the risk."
New Additions TJ Warren, Darius Bazley and Terrence Ross
"Size, length and athleticism. We've known going into the season that we're a small team. Chris [Paul] will hopefully be the smallest guy on the floor at all times, and so we needed some length/size to combat that. But with those guys Terrence and TJ, they're proven NBA players and they're guys who we have no doubt will be able to contribute big minutes and give us big games in the postseason."
Full video:
"It's been refreshing to have (Mat Ishbia) in the meetings pushing us to think bigger and better, and I'm excited for the future."@Suns GM James Jones joined us to discuss the team's new owner, plus Kevin Durant and everything else from this crazy week for Phoenix hoops. pic.twitter.com/EtlLWXMhks
— Bally Sports Arizona (@BALLYSPORTSAZ) February 15, 2023

Donnie Druin is the Publisher for Arizona Cardinals and Phoenix Suns On SI. Donnie moved to Arizona in 2012 and has been with the company since 2018. In college he won "Best Sports Column" in the state of Arizona for his section and has previously provided coverage for the Pittsburgh Steelers and Arizona State Sun Devils. Follow Donnie on Twitter @DonnieDruin for more news, updates, analysis and more!