Suns owner Mat Ishbia is no fan of tanking.
In a lengthy social media post shared Thursday, Ishbia blasted teams that sit healthy players and prioritize draft position over winning, calling the practice “losing behavior” and “embarrassing for the league.”
“This is ridiculous! Tanking is losing behavior done by losers. Purposely losing is something nobody should want to be associated with. Embarrassing for the league and for the organizations. And the talk about this as a ‘strategy’ is ridiculous,” he lamented on X.
“If you are a bad team, you get a good pick. That makes sense. But purposely shutting down players and purposely losing games is a disgrace and impacts the integrity of [the] whole league.”
Ishbia, whose post was in response to a Yahoo Sports story that “power ranked the tanking teams based on a sophisticated five-factor system,” argued that tanking is “much worse than any prop bet scandal” that has ensnared players such as Malik Beasley, Terry Rozier and Trail Blazers head coach Chauncey Billups, among others, in recent months.
“This is throwing games strategically,” he continued Thursday. “Horrible for fans that pay to watch and cheer on their team. And horrible for all the real teams that are competing for playoff spots.
“Awful behavior that Adam Silver and the NBA will need to stop with massive changes, and I have complete confidence that with his leadership, he will fix it. Those of us in a position of influence need to speak out… the only ‘strategy’ is doing right by fans, players, and the NBA community.”
Ishbia’s rant comes days after Silver fined the Jazz ($500,000) and Pacers ($100,000) for violating the NBA’s player participation policy by sitting healthy players in recent games.
“Overt behavior like this that prioritizes draft position over winning undermines the foundation of NBA competition and we will respond accordingly to any further actions that compromise the integrity of our games,” NBA commissioner Adam Silver said in a statement. “Additionally, we are working with our Competition Committee and Board of Governors to implement further measures to root out this type of conduct.”
Utah owner Ryan Smith didn’t agree with the punishment.
“Agree to disagree … Also, we won the game in Miami and got fined? That makes sense,” Smith wrote on X.
With nearly a third of the league appearing to jockey for draft positioning with a loaded 2026 class, talk of how to deal with tanking has taken over the NBA in recent weeks.
Speaking during All-Star weekend, Silver appeared ready to make some changes to the current system.
“We’ve got to look at some fresh thinking here,” Silver said. “What we’re doing, what we’re seeing right now is not working. There’s no question about it.”
Ishbia’s Suns have backed up his stance this season.
After trading away Kevin Durant and Bradley Beal, Phoenix was projected to be one of the worst teams in the Western Conference by most experts.
Instead of pivoting toward a rebuild or prioritizing draft position, the Suns have competed for a playoff spot, entering the post-All-Star stretch at 32-23 and sitting seventh in the West.