Suns owner after disastrous season: 'The house is not on fire'

The Suns fielded one of the most expensive rosters in NBA history just to suffer a first-round sweep this postseason. 

Wouldn't such a catastrophic failure call for a roster overhaul? For most owners, yes. But Mat Ishbia believes the Suns already have the requisite roster pieces to compete for a title next year. 

"We're in a great position — not a good position — a great position," Ishbia told reporters on Wednesday. "We didn't win an NBA championship so we're going to figure out what we got to change, what we got to tweak, what we got to improve to be better to win a championship next year. And guess what? We might not win one next year, but we're going to sure as hell try every single year. So get ready for that."

Ishbia stressed that lack of continuity was the reason for the Suns' woes in the 2023-24 season, expressing confidence that his franchise would turn the ship around next season. 

"The house is not on fire. We're in great position. It's not hard to fix. It's not like we're like, 'Hey, we don't have enough talent to win a championship.' We have enough talent to win a championship. Do we have enough continuity? There's a lot of things we can look at."

Salary cap experts would disagree with Ishbia's "not hard to fix" comment concerning the roster depth. The Suns have a whopping $209 million committed in salaries for the 2024-25 season, by far the biggest payroll for any team. They are also $16.3 million over the luxury tax second apron, meaning they'll be deploying the most expensive team in NBA history next season.

Unless they make the drastic call of trading Kevin Durant or Devin Booker this summer, the Suns are essentially married to the same roster next year. They have limited draft assets and cannot trade Bradley Beal unless the star guard waives his no-trade clause.