標籤: Ishbia

The NBA is struggling with a big problem right now in the form of tanking. The league inadvertently has rules in place that effectively encourage teams to throw games in hopes of getting a better draft selection.

At a time when the Utah Jazz and Indiana Pacers have been heavily fined by the league for violating player participation policies, Phoenix Suns owner Matt Ishbia is not saying anything about the practice.

“It’s an embarrassment, that’s totally, my point of view, tanking is a loser mentality. I’ve never been around anyone. You show me somebody who wants to lose, who thinks about losing, I’ll show you a loser, he’s a loser, that’s not my stuff,” Ishbia revealed on The Pat McAfee Show, according to a post by ClutchPoints on X.

“It’s a shame. It’s terrible. My view is that tanking is a loser mentality. … I think it’s bad for the NBA.”

Suns governor Matt Ishbia on the league’s tanking issue.

(via @PatMcAfeeShow)pic.twitter.com/dqK2YShWFf

– ClutchPoints (@ClutchPoints) 25 February 2026

“So I don’t like to lose, I don’t ever want to talk about losing. We try to win and the draft works, if you don’t have a good team, you get a good pick. But if you intentionally trade for players and then don’t play them, try to lose games. I think it’s bad for the NBA, I think Adam Silver knows it, organizations know it, it’s got to change. It will change.

After the 2026 All-Star break, the race to the bottom has become so transparent that NBA Commissioner Adam Silver was forced to impose massive financial fines against organizations openly throwing games.

“It’s fixable, and credit to Adam Silver. He knows it’s a problem, he’ll fix it. I believe he’ll fix it, but you can’t have teams like that…the incentives are misaligned right now,” Ishbia declared.

The Utah Jazz were fined a whopping $500,000 for benching healthy stars Lauri Markkanen and Jaren Jackson Jr. in the fourth quarter of highly competitive games against Orlando and Miami. Shortly afterward, the Indiana Pacers were fined $100,000 for resting Pascal Siakam and two other starters in violation of the league’s player participation policy.

Ishbia’s statements indicate that at least some owners in the NBA value competition above all else, even if it proves detrimental due to NBA rules.

The popularity of the NBA Slam Dunk Contest is declining, as the most famous players are refusing to compete. Not only are the most recognizable names going begging, even the best dunkers see no justification in putting themselves out there for the glory of being the league’s dunk king. The prestige that the competition once had is no longer there. But Phoenix Suns owner Matt Ishbia is on his way to doing something to try to change players’ minds.

In an appearance on the Pat McAfee Show, the Suns owner pledged $2 million to revitalize the Slam Dunk Contest.

“My take on it is how can we bring great players to it. How can we make it a great event. How can we make the fan experience phenomenal. We’re going to make it an amazing event,” Ishbia said. “Let’s do this. We can do this. Tell me what we’re doing?”

McAfee said, “You will invest one million dollars for the winner. And then donate one million dollars to the charity of their choice.”

“Done. Let’s get the best people in there. Let’s make it amazing,” Ishbia responded.

Suns owner Matt Ishbia has one last attempt to revive the NBA Slam Dunk Contest

The 2026 NBA Slam Dunk Contest is considered by many to be one of the worst ever. Jackson Hayes did a warmup dunk in the actual contest. Jess Richardson risked his life. Carter Bryant tried, but he couldn’t keep up with Keshad Johnson and his bizarre dance moves.

Giving monetary incentives has certainly worked wonders in the past, although it is not at all clear whether this will give the best players a chance to compete again as they already have millions and crores in their bank accounts and will not be incentivized in any way.

NBA 扣篮大赛的受欢迎程度正在下降，因为最著名的球员都拒绝参加比赛。不仅最知名的名字都在乞讨，即使是最好的扣篮手也看不到为了成为联盟扣篮王而将自己摆在面前的意义。比赛曾经的威望已经不复存在了。但菲尼克斯太阳队老板马特·伊什比亚可能正在采取一些措施来尝试改变球员的想法。

在帕特·麦卡菲秀上露面时，太阳队老板承诺投入 200 万美元，试图重振扣篮大赛。

“我对如何让优秀的球员参与其中有发言权。我们如何使其成为一项伟大的赛事。如何使球迷体验非凡。我们将使其成为一项令人惊叹的赛事，”伊什比亚说。 “让我们开始吧。我们能做到。告诉我我们在做什么？”

“你将为获胜者捐出一百万美元。然后向他们选择的慈善机构捐款一百万美元，”迈克菲说。

“完成了。让我们派出最优秀的人来吧。让我们把它变得很棒，”伊什比亚回答道。

太阳队老板马特·伊什比亚为重振 NBA 扣篮大赛做出最后努力

2026 年 NBA 扣篮大赛被许多人视为有史以来最糟糕的扣篮大赛之一。杰克森·海耶斯在实际比赛中进行了一次热身扣篮。杰斯·理查森冒着生命危险。卡特·布莱恩特尝试过，但他就是无法击败凯沙德·约翰逊和他古怪的舞蹈。

在过去，金钱激励确实创造了奇迹，尽管目前还不清楚这是否能让最优秀的选手再次参加比赛，因为他们的银行账户里已经有数百万美元，无论如何也不会受到太大的激励而去尝试。

Phoenix Suns owner Matt Ishbia recently spoke out about teams reportedly lagging in the NBA, calling it “losing behavior.” With tanking emerging as a hot topic in the league, it looks like Ishbia has at least one supporter in the form of Golden State Warriors owner Joe Lacob.

According to Tim Kawakami of the San Francisco Standard, while discussing the state of the Warriors this season, Lacob made it clear that his team is not making any efforts to tank. He acknowledged Ishbia’s comments and firmly declared that Golden State was not an organization that would ever come under his ownership.

“I saw another boss come out today and say [tanking]Matt Ishbia,” Lacob said. “I think, you know, it’s not in my DNA to do that, and it’s not in the DNA of this organization … it’s not a good look. This is a game. We must play to win. And that’s not a way I’ll ever be comfortable trying to make my team better.”

Joe Lacob believes in the idea that his team, along with others in the league, must perform their best for the fans who pay for tickets to watch their games and buy their merchandise. Overall, he wants to put the best product on the court, even if the club is facing some problems, like Jimmy Butler’s injury for example.

“Look, this season matters to the fans who bought tickets this year,” Lacob said. “Hopefully, they’ll be our fans next year too, obviously. I think you’ve always got to try to win and do your best. We’ve been dealt some tough cards here right now. And our expectations probably shouldn’t have been as high as they were. I thought, with Jimmy, since we got him, we had the fourth-best record in the league, I think.”

Butler has been ruled out of the remainder of the 2025-26 campaign due to an ACL injury. Once he was ruled out, the Warriors had every excuse to go all out this season. Instead, the front office traded for Kristaps Porzingis, giving the roster a huge boost in the front court that could ultimately lead to huge success if it pays off.

However, we’ll see how it goes, as the Warriors are currently without Stephen Curry due to a knee injury. Curry is expected to eventually return, but he will miss at least the next four games after missing Thursday’s 121-110 loss to the Boston Celtics.

菲尼克斯太阳队老板马特·伊什比亚 (Mat Ishbia) 在有关 NBA 坦克问题的对话中插入了自己的声音。伊什比亚在他的 X 账户上发表了大胆的声明，反对这种做法，并引用了雅虎体育作家汤姆·哈伯斯特罗 (Tom Haberstroh) 的一篇文章。

他称这种坦克策略“荒谬”，并表示“这是失败者做出的失败者行为”。

“这太荒谬了！坦克是失败者所做的失败行为。故意失败是任何人都不应该愿意与之联系在一起的事情。这对联盟和组织来说都是尴尬的。将其视为一种‘策略’的说法是荒谬的。如果你是一支糟糕的球队，你会得到一个好的选择。这是有道理的。但故意关闭球员并故意输掉比赛是一种耻辱，会影响整个联盟的完整性。“

他还表示，这比自营博彩丑闻更糟糕，将其等同于战略性地放弃比赛。

“这比任何道具投注丑闻都要糟糕得多。这是战略性地进行比赛。对于付费观看并为球队加油的球迷来说是可怕的。对于所有争夺季后赛席位的真正球队来说也是可怕的。”

伊什比亚的评论值得注意，因为他加入了越来越多的 NBA 高管、媒体成员和球迷的行列，他们认为应该对这种做法采取一些措施。伊什比亚的评论尤其真实，因为他的球队自从去年没有进入季后赛以来已经经历了复兴。当伊什比亚在罗伯特·萨弗被驱逐后接管太阳队时，他策划了凯文·杜兰特从布鲁克林篮网队到菲尼克斯太阳队的交易。然后他推动了一项交易，将克里斯·保罗送到奇才队以换取布拉德利·比尔。

在比尔和杜兰特的交易中，太阳队都牺牲了几个首轮选秀权。现在赢了就双倍下注了。即使球队与德文·布克、凯文·杜兰特和布拉德利·比尔组成的三巨头的能力出现问题，伊什比亚和太阳队也发生了转变。

太阳队并没有寻找首轮资金来重挫和重建球队，而是围绕边缘进行建设，从火箭队得到了狄龙·布鲁克斯和贾伦·格林以换取凯文·杜兰特，并通过交易马克·威廉姆斯来扩大前场的规模。

现在太阳队战绩32胜23负，排名西部第七；他们仅落后第六名森林狼队两场，落后第三名掘金队三场。也许伊什比亚将太阳队的快速阵容重组视为球队重建的标准。

今晚东部时间晚上 8:30，太阳队将前往圣安东尼奥迎战维克托·温班亚马 (Victor Wembanyama) 和马刺队。

Phoenix Suns owner Matt Ishbia added his voice to the conversation about tanking in the NBA. Ishbia issued a bold statement against the practice on his X account, citing an article by Yahoo Sports writer Tom Haberstroh.

He described the tanking tactics as “ridiculous” and said, “It’s a loser’s behavior by losers.”

“This is ridiculous! Tanking is losing behavior done by losers. Intentionally losing is something no one should be associated with. Shameful for leagues and organizations. And talking about it as a ‘strategy’ is ridiculous. If you’re a bad team, you get a good pick. It’s understandable. But intentionally tanking players and losing games on purpose is a disgrace and affects the integrity of the entire league.”

He also says it is worse than the prop betting scam, equating it to a strategically thrown game.

“This is far worse than any prop betting scandal. It’s throwing games strategically. Terrible for the fans who pay to watch and cheer on their team. And terrible for all the real teams that are competing for playoff spots.”

Ishbia’s comments are noteworthy, as he joins a growing group of NBA executives, media members and fans who believe something should be done about the practice. Ishbia’s comments, in particular, ring true, as his team is going through a renaissance after missing the playoffs last year. When Ishbia took over the Suns following the firing of Robert Sarver, he orchestrated the trade of Kevin Durant from the Brooklyn Nets to the Phoenix Suns. They then pushed for a trade that sent Chris Paul to the Wizards in exchange for Bradley Beal.

In both the Beal and Durant trades, the Suns gave up several first-round picks. Now winning is a double whammy. And even as the team’s ability to put together a Big Three with Devin Booker, Kevin Durant and Bradley Beal faltered, Ishbia and the Suns remained focused.

Rather than looking for first-round capital to strengthen and rebuild the team, the Suns built around margin, acquiring Dillon Brooks and Jalen Green from the Rockets in exchange for Kevin Durant, as well as gaining more size in the front court by trading for Mark Williams.

The Suns are now 32-23 and in seventh place in the Western Conference; They are just two games behind the Timberwolves for sixth place and three games behind the third-seeded Nuggets. Perhaps Ishbia sees the Suns’ quick roster retooling as the benchmark for rebuilding a team.

The Suns head to San Antonio to face Victor Wembanyama and the Spurs tonight at 8:30 PM Eastern.