Mat Ishbia 'really happy' with state of Phoenix Suns heading into NBA All-Star break

Mat Ishbia has seen his Phoenix Suns squad overcome injuries with a new-look roster under a new coach in Frank Vogel and feels beyond good about it going into the NBA All-Star break.

“I’m really happy with our team,” Ishbia said before Tuesday’s home game against Sacramento. “What we’re building towards. We obviously have one really big goal in front of us and that’s what the focus is. Every day, we’re getting better and better. So I think the team is coming together very well.”

The Suns team owner, along with CEO Josh Bartelstein, talked with The Arizona Republic about where the Suns are right now in a 10-minute interview. In this second part of that interview, they discuss where the Suns are after a three-team trade in which they dealt Chimezie Metu, Keita Bates Diop, Yuta Watanabe, Jordan Goodwin, three second-round picks and a first-round pick swap for Royce O’Neale from the Brooklyn Nets and David Roddy from the Grizzlies.

Phoenix is also looking to add veteran forward Thad Young, sources informed The Republic. The Suns had two roster spots available following the three-team trade.

Part 1: Mat Ishbia talks new NBA G League team for 2024-25 season, Player 15 Group brand

State of the Suns

Phoenix is 33-22 after Wednesday's 116-100 win over Detroit at Footprint Center. The Suns are 5-1 in their last six games.

Ishbia: “Coach Vogel is doing a great job along with his assistants. The players are jelling together. Obviously being healthy is a big part of it and helps because we can all play our roles and so I’m really happy with where we’re at. Different than what we were expecting because I didn’t expect to have as many injuries early in the season, but I think we’re coming together heading into this All-Star break and really ready for the end of the season and get ready for the playoffs."

The Suns have won 14 of their last 18 games with all four defeats coming on the road.

Bartelstein: “We’re playing our best basketball right now. All the advanced analytics are very positive as far as how we’re playing and that correlates to us being healthy. When we’re healthy, we feel really good about our team. We have a stated goal. We want to win these last two before the break and keep going. I think we’re in a really good spot, the vibe is really good and we’re going to finish strong here.”

‘Still believe that’

Ishbia took the stage on Suns media day and said his Suns have the best team in the NBA.

Then injuries happened to Devin Booker, Kevin Durant and Bradley Beal with Beal missing the most time. The Suns are 14-8 with their Big 3 in the lineup, but Beal suffered a left hamstring injury in the first quarter of Tuesday's game. He missed Wednesday's win over Detroit, but with the All-Star break coming up, Beal will have time to recover before the Suns play Feb. 22 at Dallas.

Beal is also getting a nose procedure done during the break after having it broken in a loss last month at Indiana. He's been wearing a mask ever since.

The Suns have found a more stable rotation of late, but still made a sizeable trade involving six players last week before Beal went down with his third different injury of the season. Sources informed The Republic that Phoenix was interested in Hornets forward Miles Bridges before he ultimately decided to stay in Charlotte as he had a no-trade clause in his contract. Bridges is averaging a career-high 21.6 points and 7.2 rebounds, but he would’ve been a controversial addition for the Suns considering he was awaiting a Feb. 20 court case for the alleged violation of a domestic violence court order, but all three criminal counts against him were dropped Tuesday.

The Suns ended up landing O’Neale and Roddy in a three-team trade.

“We explored everything, but at the end of the day, we're talking about Royce O'Neale and David Roddy,” Suns General Manager and President of Basketball Operations, James Jones, said last week. “Two guys I think are going to be exceptionally well for us, but yeah, we talked about a lot of guys."

The deal added $20 million to Phoenix’s salary and luxury tax bill, sources informed The Republic.

Ishbia: We have our three star players and we also have a lot of other players who could be considered stars as well. We have a great all-around team. I love our team. I feel excited about what’s going on. Like Josh said, we’re jelling. We’re playing our best basketball right now. Just because we had the best to start the season or felt like we had the best roster, doesn’t mean you can’t improve it. So we’re always going to try to improve things and that’s what we did I think with the addition of Royce and David.”

Three the Suns way: Ishbia, Jones and Bartelstein

The Suns have a three-man crew of Ishbia, Jones and Bartelstein who have developed a working relationship that has led to making major roster moves. Ishbia hired Bartelstein as CEO of the Suns and WNBA’s Phoenix Mercury in April 2023. Bartelstein had previously worked eight years for the Pistons, starting as the special assistant to the vice chairman and worked his way up to assistant general manager in basketball operations.

Bartelstein: “There’s two points. One, it’s the power of our relationships. James, Mat and I talk every day about the business side, about the basketball side. We’re always on the same page when you’re talking every day, you’re exchanging ideas and you’re talking about things you can improve on. So when you have that relationship that’s unique, being in basketball and having grown up in it, you don’t always have that with an owner who knows basketball. And of course we don’t agree on everything. That’s the whole point having conversations. We have different thoughts, but we’re always running the race at the same pace.

"And two, and this is very unique, anything we can do to make our team better to win a championship, we can do. So when we come to Mat with ideas and suggestions on saying, hey, let’s go trade for Royce O’Neale and David Roddy, but it’s going to add a significant amount of money ($20M) to our tax bill and to this team, he says, ‘Hey, if it’s going to make us better,’ and the answer is yes, then let’s go do it. Many people don’t do that, especially at the trade deadline. You saw several teams shed money. We’re all in to win a championship and when you have an owner willing to do that and use any resource possible, it makes your job easier. You can go after the best players no matter where their salaries are at.”

Have opinions about the current state of the Suns? Reach Suns Insider Duane Rankin at dmrankin@gannett.com or contact him at 480-787-1240. Follow him on X, formerly Twitter, at @DuaneRankin.

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This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Suns owner Mat Ishbia 'really happy' with team going into All-Star break