After officially announcing the Phoenix Suns would host the 2027 NBA All-Star game, owner Mat Ishbia and NBA commissioner Adam Silver met with local reporters to discuss various topics.
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00:00 Everything that Matt has accomplished with the All-Star Games, the G League, how would you just kind of sum up or describe this 13-month period?
00:08 I mean, it's been fantastic, I think, for as a commissioner, when you have a team that's operated this well, and it's obviously multiple teams now.
00:18 It's, you know, I don't know what else to say other than it's been a pleasure working with Matt.
00:23 He and I had gotten to know each other a few years before he acquired the team, and I talked about a few opportunities.
00:28 When this came up, Matt had said this is ideal for me and my family, and it sounds like, you know, everything I've heard, the community has really taken to Matt and Josh and their group.
00:40 And I meant what I said before, you know, I've been with the league for 32 years, I don't think we've ever awarded through All-Star Games within the space of a year.
00:47 And Matt made this his top priority because I think it was important to him to demonstrate to this community that he wanted to find ways to get back to focus attention on all the things that were happening here.
00:58 And that's exactly where we find ourselves.
01:00 I'm sure I wanted to follow up just on the commitment to the women's game that you just mentioned.
01:05 Just how much does Matt serve as a staple and an example for you within the league of the commitment to the WNBA and just how he's attempting to grow that part of the game just as well as the men's game?
01:14 Well, that was important to him from day one in terms of the Mercury, and he was looking for an opportunity where there was an NBA and a WNBA franchise.
01:22 Actually, I was mentioning to Matt earlier this afternoon that as we're now seeing the increased popularity of the women's game, and it seems to have grown exponentially just over the last few years,
01:34 that now I'm hearing from a lot of other NBA franchises that don't have WNBA teams.
01:39 And he said, we should have a WNBA team too.
01:42 So, you know, Kathy Engelbert, my colleague, is commissioned with WNBA.
01:45 She can speak to that as well.
01:47 But it's just great news.
01:49 Obviously, what we're seeing now in the last couple of years, too, a dramatic increase in ratings in women's college basketball.
01:55 What we did at All-Star Game in Indianapolis, Matt and I have been talking about that too, even in terms of what they could do with the WNBA All-Star Game this summer to replicate what Steph and Sabrina did.
02:07 That was clearly one of the highlights of the weekend.
02:09 I thought, you know, Sabrina said it perfectly.
02:12 I think I'm paraphrasing her where she said something along the lines of shooters are shooters.
02:15 And it's just it's no battle of the sexes for people of a certain generation.
02:19 It's just about great basketball.
02:21 So I'm really pleased about everything that's happening around women's basketball too.
02:25 I'm just curious, obviously, with the new CBA and the second tax apron implications,
02:30 they make it a little bit harder for teams that want to spend a lot of money to do so from a roster building standpoint.
02:36 I know you've always said, you know, I don't care what it costs.
02:38 I'm just here to make the team better.
02:40 You've got two significant free agents coming up.
02:43 Do you foresee a similar approach to the way that you're going to approach this summer,
02:48 especially with those implications of the second tax apron?
02:51 Yes. I don't know what the second tax apron is. What is that?
02:54 So the way I look at it is this.
02:57 We're trying to win.
02:59 So I talk about four things.
03:00 And obviously, I'm talking about Grace and Royce.
03:02 We have other free agents as well.
03:04 But the way we're looking at it is we're trying to win a championship.
03:06 We're going to try it this year and then we're going to try to figure out how to do it next year.
03:09 And signing free agents is what it's going to take.
03:11 And having someone's bird rights gives you an advantage.
03:14 You're able to keep those players, even if you're into the luxury tax.
03:17 And we're not frivolous with money and just spending money to spend money.
03:20 What we're trying to do is win a championship and build the best team possible.
03:23 And it's not just players. It's culture. It's team members.
03:25 And Grace and Royce, those are the two you're speaking of, are two great guys.
03:29 Royce is new to the organization. He's done an amazing job.
03:31 Everything that you think of. And Grace has been here all year.
03:34 And has been a phenomenal part of the team and the organization.
03:36 So we hope and expect to have both those guys back.
03:39 Along with keeping this core team together.
03:42 We love our team and we're going to go compete at the highest level.
03:44 Hopefully in the playoffs here very soon. Hopefully you can see them all play together.
03:47 Commissioner, just to follow up on that really quickly.
03:50 The second apron, it's only been a year so far.
03:52 So there's plenty for you guys to go through.
03:54 We're seeing the results of it, but we've got some owners here who will mock its existence in some ways.
03:59 I wasn't mocking. I was just teasing.
04:01 I get so many questions about it these days.
04:03 Misuse of my apologies.
04:05 But then other owners will look to save because of the apron.
04:09 How have you seen the league navigate this obstacle so far?
04:12 And what you guys were hoping to achieve with its implementation?
04:15 Just as a reminder, collectively nobody saves from the second apron.
04:19 We have a system that distributes roughly 50% of the revenue to the players.
04:25 So whether it's the first apron or the second apron,
04:27 there are mechanisms for how the money gets distributed among the roughly 450 players in the league.
04:33 And it's a balance.
04:35 Matt, as you would expect and hope, is a fan of this team.
04:39 He wants to do everything he possibly can to compete.
04:41 And then from a league-wide basis, we want to create the best possible competition among the 30 teams.
04:46 And this is the balance we found through negotiations with the Players Association.
04:50 So to your point and your question, it's early days in terms of the second apron.
04:53 This is yet a new provision in the CBA that's just been put into effect.
04:57 But when I look out at the league, the change we've made over the last several years,
05:01 five different champions over the last five years,
05:04 I think 29 of the 30 teams have made it to the playoffs in the last 30 years.
05:08 We had a really competitive in-season tournament.
05:12 I think the play-in is working very well.
05:15 So from a competitive standpoint, which is ultimately what we're selling on a league-wide basis,
05:20 I think the system is working pretty well.
05:22 We're always looking at it.
05:24 And I'm sure next time we sit down with the players, we'll find even other ways to improve it.
05:28 Mr. Eschmieda, have you been able to take in just the difference that you've made
05:32 and just everything that's happened in the last year?
05:35 I mean, just a year, the all-star, the women's all-star that's coming here, now this, now just the G League.
05:41 I mean, have you been able to just take it in and be like, "Whoa, look at all the changes we've made in such a short amount of time"?
05:45 Yeah, no, thank you.
05:47 I do take a minute to look around and say how proud I am of the organizations, the Suns and the Mercury and all the great things.
05:52 And I got very lucky.
05:54 I got to be part of this great community and great team and all these great people here.
05:57 And so, like I said, I get probably too much credit, but they're great people here.
06:00 And when I do get the chance, I'll walk around the stadium tonight, walk the concourse like I always do,
06:03 and look at fans and see how excited they are about what we're doing here in Phoenix.
06:06 Not just the team, of course, we're trying to win and compete at the highest level,
06:09 but also all the things from the food, from how quickly we get people into the games,
06:13 to the new practice facility for the women, all the things we're doing.
06:16 And I am proud of what we've done.
06:17 At the same time, like I said up there, we're just getting started.
06:19 We're 13 months in.
06:21 There's a lot of initiatives that have not been crossed off the list that we want to focus on.
06:24 And we're going to do those over the next 13 months, and then 13 months again after that,
06:27 we continue to build hopefully one of the best franchises in all sports for the men and the women's team.
06:32 Some of the things that were the storylines from this past All-Star Game was lack of competitiveness
06:37 and lack of defense, also the slam dunk contest being lackluster.
06:41 What are the measures that you plan to take around incentives after changing it back to East to West
06:47 that you're going to try to ensure to make sure that it's a better product for a while in time coming to Phoenix?
06:52 We're obviously very focused on that.
06:55 It's no question it's a work in progress.
06:57 I was disappointed in the All-Star Game.
06:59 I didn't make any secret about that.
07:01 And frankly, most of the players I talked to, including many of whom participated in the All-Star Game,
07:07 were disappointed too.
07:08 As I said, we've got three years to get it right before we come here.
07:13 But believe me, it's something we all as a community care a lot about.
07:16 I think it's one thing I learned.
07:19 We can't turn the clock back.
07:21 I think it's not fair to these players to say this is how things used to be.
07:25 So many things in life have changed.
07:27 Other leagues have taken new approaches to what their All-Star Games are.
07:31 I think at the end of the day, we don't want to lose sight of the fact that this is supposed to be a midseason break,
07:38 an opportunity to showcase what's great about this league, to bring a lot of joy to fans.
07:44 And I know that's something that we can figure out.
07:48 I think we've got really smart people involved in this league.
07:50 The ownership level, the Players Association, Andre Iguodala, and the Players Association,
07:56 obviously just off the court himself.
07:58 I've been talking a lot about it already.
08:00 We'll figure it out.
08:03 We know we have to, but as I said, work in progress.
08:06 I might add one thing, by the way.
08:08 Mr. Silver and all the others, we're so focused on making it.
08:11 But remember, it's a whole weekend.
08:12 It's a weekend of events.
08:13 Of course, the game, can we make some improvements to the game?
08:16 I'm sure that we have the best commissioners.
08:18 We're going to figure it out, and we're going to all work together.
08:20 But remember, it's a whole weekend of events.
08:22 The best 24 basketball players that play in the world are going to be here,
08:26 and they're going to be competing.
08:27 But they're also on a break, too, so how do you manage that?
08:29 And so I think Mr. Silver is figuring it out with all of us.
08:32 But I think it's an amazing – just how it was in Indiana, I thought it was still an amazing weekend.
08:36 Could the game have been more competitive?
08:38 You can always nitpick at a lot of different things, but it's still an amazing all-star weekend,
08:41 and we're bringing it to Phoenix, and we're really excited about it.
08:43 The commissioners, there's speculation right now that Las Vegas is a very good-looking location for the next NBA team.
08:51 How close is that to becoming a reality in today's terms?
08:55 It's no closer than it was years ago.
08:58 What I've said is we're in the process now of negotiating new media deals.
09:03 If you'd asked me this question a couple years ago, I would have said we want to get a new CBA done
09:07 and our media deals.
09:08 We, of course, have a new collective bargaining agreement in place until 2030.
09:12 And once we get our new media deals done, we'll turn to expansion.
09:15 But there are no discussions going on right now in terms of Las Vegas or any other city.
09:20 Thank you very much.