Suns’ Mat Ishbia sees other teams ‘hiding’ from spending in 2nd apron

The Phoenix Suns have continued to zig while other teams zag with the new limitations in place for the NBA’s mega-spenders.

After the Suns said last offseason they planned to blow through the second apron, they did just that. Including luxury tax payments, Phoenix’s roster for the 2024-25 season will cost over a record-setting $400 million.

Other organizations have predictably avoided the second apron this offseason.

It went far enough for a team like the Los Angeles Clippers to release a statement on why Paul George left in free agency, noting that some of the reasoning came down to the restrictions. It has also been speculated as to why the Denver Nuggets failed to re-sign Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, and New York Knicks star point guard Jalen Brunson took a massive pay cut to help his team avoid the penalties in the future.

Some of the reasoning here is fair, with those organizations making sure they have more options when modifying the roster. But to act like it is solely due to that and not also the extra money it costs to go into the second apron is spinning things a bit.

That’s what Suns owner Mat Ishbia sees.

“It’s like a nice way for other teams and owners to hide behind why they don’t re-sign players,” Ishbia told Arizona Sports’ Burns & Gambo on Wednesday.

Ishbia could have not retained Grayson Allen or Royce O’Neale for those aforementioned reasons but he spent away. He went went as far as giving wing Josh Okogie a raise so his contract is more tradable down the road.

Spotrac currently has the Suns at a tax bill of $212 million, over double the next highest mark of the Minnesota Timberwolves’ $105.5 million. Ishbia explained how the higher you go, the more severe the penalties go, essentially compounding the spending. Currently, the Suns are one of only five teams with a tax bill set to go over $50 million.

“If I didn’t feel we had a chance to win a NBA championship, I promise you we wouldn’t have the highest salary and highest luxury tax in NBA history,” Ishbia said. “We wouldn’t be doing it. I don’t say that’s not a reason for us not to build a team but I’m not silly with money, I don’t throw money away. But I’m a fan too and I want to put the best team out there.”

Where this starts to get dicey for the Suns is the penalties with first-round picks. At a certain point, teams can have their draft picks “frozen,” meaning the Suns wouldn’t be able to trade that pick until they unfroze it. Even worse, the selection could later be moved all the way to the end of the first round. There’s a scenario where a repeat second apron team wins the NBA Draft Lottery, only to still pick 30th.

It’s a scary proposition on multiple fronts. Ishbia clarified what this looks like for the Suns specifically and how teams qualify once they are in the second apron three out of four years.

“Last year didn’t even count,” he said. “So, the next two years we are going to be in the second apron and we are going to be very expensive. Luxury tax is going to be high this year, it’s going to be high again next year. And we’re going to compete and we’re going to see how we do.

“And then the third year we have to try to get out of it. That would probably be the best and most intelligent decision because that would make it so our picks are not frozen and not pushed to the back of the draft.”

That third year would be the salary books for the 2026-27 season. He did state if the Suns are still contending it’s perhaps a different story but that is notably when the contracts of both Kevin Durant ($54.7 million) and Jusuf Nurkic ($19.4 million) expire. The tax is not put into effect and finalized until the end of the season, so the Suns theoretically could go into the season as a second apron team before ducking out of that space by making some deals at the trade deadline.

Does it mean Durant is for sure gone in two years? No. It does, however, open a window into the team-building philosophiy and where things will get clunky.

Bradley Beal ($57.1 million) would be on an expiring contract and Devin Booker ($57 million) would have two years remaining like Allen ($18.1 million) and O’Neale ($11.4 million). The base of a good, competitive team starts to get a little more rickety with all that money already committed and a total salary number in mind to not reach. Phoenix will be banking on the expanding salary caps thanks to the new media rights deal as well.

Follow @KellanOlson