Mat Ishbia鈥檚 career statistics at Michigan State went like this: He averaged 0.6 points, 0.3 rebounds and 0.3 assists per game.
Not exactly record-setting numbers.
But this is the number he's about to be known by in the game 鈥� $4 billion. is the biggest such deal in NBA history. The agreement means that embattled owner Robert Sarver鈥檚 era leading those franchises is about to end, once the league signs off on the sale.
A look at the sale, and the process that awaits:
WHO IS MAT ISHBIA?
Ishbia, who turns 43 on Jan. 6, is a basketball junkie. At only 5-foot-10, he was a good high school player, the top scorer on his Birmingham (Michigan) Seaholm High team as a senior in 1997-98 with a flair for dramatics 鈥� like a 36-point game and making both ends of a 1-and-1 late in regulation to help his team get into overtime and beat a crosstown rival.
He walked onto the team at Michigan State, played the last few seconds of the Spartans鈥� 2000 national championship game win over Florida and became so important to coach Tom Izzo that by the end of his career Ishbia was seated next to Izzo on the bench 鈥� serving as a de facto assistant coach.
He鈥檚 bled Michigan State green ever since. Several of his former teammates 鈥� Mateen Cleaves among them 鈥� have worked for Ishbia at United Wholesale Mortgage, the company his father founded and Ishbia now runs. And his $32 million gift to the school in 2021 helped, among other things, fund football coach Mel Tucker鈥檚 $95 million contract.
Some will say that he was given the keys to a company his father built, which is true. It should also be noted that Ishbia came up through the ranks and wasn鈥檛 immediately ushered into the CEO suite. UWM had fewer than 20 employees when his father asked Ishbia to join the company, and he told the Detroit Free Press in a 2020 interview that his first salary was $18,000.
UWM now has about 8,000 employees; Ishbia鈥檚 salary package was just under $8 million last year and his wealth is estimated by Bloomberg to be $5.26 billion.
His company went public in January 2021 and is a rival to Quicken Loans 鈥� the company that has Cleveland Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert as its founder and chairman. Gilbert, like Ishbia and Detroit Pistons owner Tom Gores, is also a Michigan State alum.
鈥淢y business is not designed to make my competitors like me,鈥� Ishbia told CN小蓝视频 in 2021. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 not how I鈥檓 going to do things. I鈥檓 going to win for my shareholders and team members and brokers.鈥�
WHY IS THE PHOENIX FRANCHISE WORTH $4 BILLION?
It probably is not, though Ishbia clearly believes otherwise. It鈥檚 an investment and likely a very smart one.
The most recent valuation of the Suns franchise was listed by Forbes at $2.7 billion. Sports franchise values are skyrocketing, and in the NBA, a new media rights deal is on the way that could be worth three times the current $24 billion, nine-year pact.
That will make teams even more valuable, and NBA business is booming 鈥� league revenue topped $10 billion last season for the first time.
WHAT DOES THE DEAL MEAN FOR NBA EXPANSION?
Expansion is coming to the NBA, once the next 鈥� something that should be done in the next few months 鈥� and media rights deal gets completed. With this sale, and valuing the clubs at $4 billion, the NBA could easily command $5 billion or more as an expansion fee to the next groups who want to buy into the league.
鈥淲e need to renew those ... then we will turn to expansion,鈥� NBA Commissioner Adam Silver said last week. 鈥淎s I鈥檝e said in the past, it鈥檚, I feel, our manifest destiny to continue to grow and not just grow in the United States but grow outside the United States as well.鈥�
It's not imminent. It's hard to see the NBA expanding before 2025, at the earliest.
WHY DID THE SUNS NEED TO BE SOLD?
On paper, Robert Sarver would have been welcomed back as an owner once his one-year suspension ended in September 2023. as did the damning report that was commissioned after ESPN first reported about his years of boorish conduct.
Put simply, there was no way he could come back. and began courting buyers.
Sarver was the managing partner, which meant he could agree to the sale even though there are limited partners involved as well.
Ishbia and his brother Justin Ishbia are buying all of Sarver鈥檚 stake, plus some of what the limited partners own, and will control more than 50% of the team once the sale is approved.
WHAT HAPPENS NOW?
Ishbia will be scrutinized by the NBA. The league will look for any red flags in his personal finances, in his company鈥檚 finances, in his personal conduct and more.
Once that process is complete, the league鈥檚 Board of Governors will vote to ratify the sale. The most likely timeline has Ishbia being approved to take over the Suns and Mercury by February or March.
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Tim Reynolds, The Associated Press
