Suns Owner Mat Ishbia Added Some Fuel To The Fire By Joining Devin Booker In Publicly Calling Out The NBA's Officiating

Barry Gossage. Getty Images.

Let me start by saying I think what Mat Ishbia has done since buying the Suns has been for the most part, everything you could want the new owner of your favorite team to do. He made games more accessible for the fans by offering free TV antennas, he lowered concession prices, he spends his money on the team, when things didn't work out after trying to go all in on big name players, he quickly owned up to it and pivoted to a different direction as opposed to being stubborn and not taking accountability. At the end of the day, that's all you can really ask for as a fan. Hell, he's even willing to flop while attending playoff games in an effort to give his team an edge

The guy clearly cares, which is a good thing. 

Which brings us to what went on last night in Game 2 between the Suns and Thunder. Following the questionable whistles and Devin Booker crash out, it was only a matter of time before Ishbia decided to enter the ring

I am 100% behind Devin Booker here. Last night was not a good look for our league. Let me be clear, we didn’t lose because of officiating, but that doesn’t make last night any less important. If the referees are going to demand respect from the players - as they should - then the players should demand respect from the referees. When a referee is missing calls and clearly disrespecting the players, almost mocking them, they must be held accountable. Nobody who loves this game enjoyed watching that last night. They want to see the players compete at the highest level. The league needs be far more aggressive about this kind of thing. All players and all fans deserve it.

OK, a few things here. First, good on Ishbia for standing by his franchise player. Even if you don't actually agree with what he was saying, it's always good to show public support for your main guy, especially nowadays where players can wake up one day and decide it's time to demand a trade. Granted, it also helps that Ishbia and the Suns keep handing Booker max extensions, but that's what you want as a fan. You want your owner to ride or die with the players. 

Second, I actually agree with a lot of what he's saying. He's not wrong when it comes to what we saw last night. Outside of OKC fans and OKC media, we all see it. I think most would agree that accountability is one of the biggest issues the NBA has with its officiating problem. 

Here's the thing though. I think it's one thing for a player to react and say the stuff Booker did in his presser after a game like this, and it's another thing coming from the owner. It's just as easy to find clip compilations of the Suns doing similar tactics that the Thunder used, which I would imagine Ishbia doesn't have too many problems with. I can't imagine he was upset that plays like this weren't called

Which deep down, is the biggest issue with a lot of these discussions. Suns fans will be upset about what OKC did, yet have no issue with that video above. Thunder fans will deny any of the things we all see happen actually happen, but then will also call out very similar plays from others as baiting/flopping etc (which they are). Nobody can ever really be objective, because we're all fans. It's cool when shit benefits our favorite teams and is bullshit when it benefits the teams they're playing. It's why this topic/issue will never die in my opinion. 

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What I'm curious about is how does the league handle something like this? It's one thing if a player sounds off like Booker did, that's an easy fine. But remember, Adam Silver works for the owners. He didn't exactly call out an official by name, but he bascially said the same shit Booker did. So does he get a fine too? Much like Booker, the NBA usually doesn't give a shit of you're right, they still can't have owners publicly calling out their officiating because they try and pretend about the "integrity of the game" or whatever. I'm pretty sure he has a direct line to the league office and he could have said all of this in private, so it does feel a little performative to me. Again, he's right, but it'll probably cost him a hefty fine as well.

Who knows though. Perhaps the one thing that could get Adam Silver to actually take this problem seriously is if more owners start to call it out. We'll see how the Thunder whistle looks the rest of this series, because it's not as if they need the whistle to sweep the Suns. That's happening whether they bait the officials or not. But it will be interesting to see if there's a shift. My guess is we see a lot more "no calls" on some of these plays moving forward, which in some ways will be an admission by the league office that last night was a bit much.