{"id":1268862,"date":"2022-12-22T11:23:28","date_gmt":"2022-12-22T11:23:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/12\/22\/phoenix-suns-phoenix-mercury-set-for-record-4bn-sale\/"},"modified":"2022-12-22T11:23:28","modified_gmt":"2022-12-22T11:23:28","slug":"phoenix-suns-phoenix-mercury-set-for-record-4bn-sale","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/12\/22\/phoenix-suns-phoenix-mercury-set-for-record-4bn-sale\/","title":{"rendered":"Phoenix Suns &#038; Phoenix Mercury set for record $4bn sale"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<div>\n<div class=\"td-post-featured-image\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"696\" height=\"392\" class=\"entry-thumb\" src=\"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/FkdwyChWIAE8pgY-696x392.jpg\"   alt=\"\" title=\"FkdwyChWIAE8pgY\"\/><\/div>\n<p>Billionaire Mat Ishbia is closing in on a deal for the Phoenix Suns and Mercury in an agreement that will value the franchises at $4bn (\u00a33.3bn).<\/p>\n<p>Mortgage executive Ishbia has made a deal in principle with Robert Sarver,\u00a0who is selling after being suspended for racist and sexist behaviour.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBoth teams have an incredibly dynamic fanbase. I have loved experiencing the energy of the Valley,\u201d said Ishbia.<\/p>\n<p><!-- \/22191989129,1002554\/MGL\/mgl_ado_atunwa_300x250 --><\/p>\n<p>The deal would be a record for the purchase of an NBA team.<\/p>\n<p>Ishbia\u2019s investment in a controlling stake in the Suns and WNBA side the Mercury values the franchise at $4bn, more than the $3.3bn price tag that Joe Tsai\u2019s deal put on the Brooklyn Nets and Barclays Center in 2019.<\/p>\n<p>Ishbia played college basketball at Michigan State and was a fringe player in the team\u2019s NCAA Championship win under the long-serving coach Tom Izzo in 2000.<\/p>\n<p><strong>READ ALSO<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>\u201cBasketball is at the core of my life, from my high school days as a player to the honour of playing for Coach Izzo and winning a national title at Michigan State University,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n<p>Ishbia\u2019s arrival in the sport was welcomed by NBA great Magic Johnson, who also played for Michigan State, although in a different era.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAll of the other 29 NBA teams better watch out because Mat\u2019s a winner!\u201d Johnson wrote.<\/p>\n<p>Ishbia said in November that he was considering a bid to buy American football\u2019s Washington Commanders after he lost out in the bidding for fellow NFL side the Denver Broncos in August.<\/p>\n<p>Current Phoenix owner Sarver was fined\u00a0$10m and suspended from basketball for a year in September\u00a0after an investigation into claims of racism and misogyny found he had \u201cengaged in conduct that clearly violated common workplace standards\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>He announced he was looking to sell the franchise\u00a0shortly after, saying it was \u201cthe best course of action for everyone\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>            <!--  [embed]https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=videoseries[\/embed]<!--\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>--><\/p>\n<div class=\"youtube-embed\" data-video_id=\"5l9XNGbiiRQ\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Amendment of Tax List: Minority MPs lament over introduction of taxes on fruit juices (21-12-22)\" width=\"696\" height=\"392\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/5l9XNGbiiRQ?feature=oembed&#038;enablejsapi=1\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Billionaire Mat Ishbia is closing in on a deal for the Phoenix Suns and Mercury in an agreement that will value the franchises at $4bn (\u00a33.3bn). Mortgage executive Ishbia has made a deal in principle with Robert Sarver,\u00a0who is selling after being suspended for racist and sexist behaviour. \u201cBoth teams have an incredibly dynamic fanbase. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1268863,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[25813,29351,29008,998,5593,618,29983],"class_list":["post-1268862","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-4bn","tag-mercury","tag-phoenix","tag-record","tag-sale","tag-set","tag-suns"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1268862","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1268862"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1268862\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1268862"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1268862"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ghanamma.com\/2022\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1268862"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}