Billionaire Mat Ishbia officially became majority owner of the Phoenix Suns in February 2023, and a big move followed just days later. The Suns acquired Kevin Durant from the Brooklyn Nets in a blockbuster deal, but while there was a lot of excitement about his arrival, things didn’t quite work out.

The Suns won just one playoff series in two and a half seasons with Durant, and Ishbia expressed regret over the move during an interview with CNBC.

“The team was, I think, the eight or nine seed when I bought the team, and we had some good young players,” Ishbia said. “Can we get over the top? And I basically was told like, ‘Hey, as an owner, stay out of it and give them some money.’ And so I said, ‘Hey, listen, we’ll go into the luxury tax. Go do whatever it takes to try to win a championship.’

“And so we did that,” Ishbia added. “But it was more going getting Kevin Durant… It was not aligned with my vision. We had a couple of years, and it did not succeed, as we’re well aware of at this point. After that year, I decided to trade Kevin Durant, bring in my GM, bring in a coach, and get extremely involved personally with the type of guy and type of person we want at our organization, not just on the court, but off the court.”

The Suns had given up Mikal Bridges, Cameron Johnson, Jae Crowder, four first-round draft picks, and a first-round pick swap for Durant. It was an all-in move, and Ishbia, who bought the majority stake from Robert Sarver for $2.28 billion, was kind of distancing himself from it here.

Durant would go on to average 26.8 points, 6.3 rebounds, 4.6 assists, 0.8 steals, and 1.2 blocks per game for the Suns. The 16-time All-Star played at a high level, but the team didn’t even come close to hitting the heights envisioned.

The Suns would famously attempt to trade Durant at the 2025 February deadline, which unsurprisingly upset him. A divorce then seemed inevitable in the summer, and that’s exactly what happened.

The Suns traded Durant to the Houston Rockets for Dillon Brooks, Jalen Green, one first-round pick, and five second-round picks in the 2025 offseason. It was a big decision, but it wasn’t the only one Ishbia made back then.

Jordan Ott replaced Mike Budenholzer as the Suns’ head coach, and Brian Gregory was promoted to general manager. Ishbia also made it clear they had to get players who fit their DNA.

“I’m not saying it’s Kevin Durant or not Kevin Durant,” Ishbia added. “But here’s what I just say: it is Dillon Brooks, it is Jordan Goodwin, it is Collin Gillespie… I’m not going to go name every one of my players, but we’ve defined what matters to us. We have a thing called the Suns’ DNA, the type of player that we believe in, that we want, and it’s a team that the fans will be proud of.

“Everyone thought we were going to be the worst team in the league last year,” Ishbia said. “We made the playoffs, won 45 games. We’re going to build on that. And so, what I’ve learned, my biggest lesson to kind of come back, one, it’s not positive or negative about Kevin Durant. What it is is we have to define what we’re about in Phoenix and then stick with it and believe in our vision and our path.

“And I didn’t do that at the beginning,” Ishbia continued. “I kind of just threw money at the problem. Now I got personally involved with every decision, from the 14th man on the roster to the first man on the roster, every aspect of it, fan experience, players, coaches. I’m putting my heart and soul into it.”

Ishbia also added that the lesson learned is that if you don’t have a defined culture and a North Star for where you’re going, bringing in a super talented player like Durant doesn’t necessarily lead to championships. The 46-year-old believes you have to find players aligned with your vision, and that’s what he has been focusing on.

As for Durant, he has spoken about what he thinks went wrong during his Suns tenure. He’d be hoping this Rockets tenure turns out better.