Report: Billionaire Mat Ishbia Finalizing Purchase of Suns
The record-setting deal is also expected to include the WNBA’s Mercury.
Billionaire mortgage lender Mat Ishbia is finalizing a purchase of the Suns, according to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski.
The deal, which Wojnarowski reports is expected to be completed soon, will officially bring an end to the tenure of Robert Sarver. Ishbia’s purchase price is believed to be in the neighborhood of $4 billion, per Wojnarowski, which would set an NBA record for the highest sale of a franchise.
The WNBA’s Mercury are also a part of the purchase, according to Wojnarowski.
Sarver announced he would sell both the Suns and the Mercury in September after he was handed down a $10 million fine and suspension of one year following a league investigation into workplace misconduct.
The investigation found that Sarver had used the n-word at least five times “when recounting the statements of others” during his time with the Mercury and Suns. It also found he consistently acted inappropriately toward employees, including “instances of inequitable conduct toward female employees,” which included “sex-related comments,” the league said in a release. Sarver also reportedly engaged in “inappropriate physical conduct toward male employees.”
In November 2021, ESPN reported accounts from more than 70 current and former Suns employees that detailed a toxic workplace environment under Sarver that were both racist and misogynystic. These included instances describing when Sarver said the n-word, such as when he said he hired Lindsey Hunter as head coach over Dan Majerle in ’13 because “these [n-words] need a [n-word].” The NBA opened its investigation soon after that report was published.
Despite the findings of the investigation, the league determined that none of Sarver’s behavior was “motivated by racial or gender-based animus.”
Ishbia, the CEO of United Wholesale Mortgage, played college basketball at Michigan State from 1998 to 2002. He was a part of three straight Final Four teams and won the national championship with the Spartans in ’00.