{"id":156871,"date":"2025-08-28T01:42:40","date_gmt":"2025-08-28T05:42:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/?p=156871"},"modified":"2025-08-28T01:42:40","modified_gmt":"2025-08-28T05:42:40","slug":"mat-ishbia-suns-sued-for-the-sixth-time-since-november-2024","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2025\/08\/28\/mat-ishbia-suns-sued-for-the-sixth-time-since-november-2024\/","title":{"rendered":"Mat Ishbia, Suns Sued For The Sixth Time Since November 2024"},"content":{"rendered":"

PHOENIX, Az. \u2014 Two minority owners from the Robert Sarver era are taking the Phoenix Suns<\/a> to court. In a lawsuit filed Aug. 21 in Delaware, the investors claim majority owner Mat Ishbia has \u201crefused access to internal records.\u201d ESPN obtained a redacted version Wednesday. Front Office Sports first broke<\/a> the news.<\/p>\n

Mat Ishbia, Suns Sued For The Sixth Time Since November 2024<\/h2>\n
\"The
Nov 8, 2023; Chicago, Illinois, USA; Phoenix Suns general manager James Jones, center, and owner Matt Ishbia, right, watch their team warms up before a game against the Chicago Bulls at United Center. Mandatory Credit: Jamie Sabau-USA TODAY Sports<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The suit comes from Andy Kohlberg of Kisco WC Sports II and Scott Seldin of Kent Circle Investments. Both men rejected Ishbia\u2019s 2023 buyout offer, when he purchased his controlling stake in the Suns and Mercury for $2.28 billion. Sarver exited with a $1.48 billion sale. Fourteen of sixteen partners sold. Only Kohlberg and Seldin held out.<\/p>\n

This is the sixth lawsuit against the Suns since November 2024. Five others came from employees who alleged harassment, retaliation, or discrimination. The ownership battle continues, and at its center is the fact that the Suns and Matt Ishbia have been sued.<\/p>\n

Allegations of Lack of Transparency<\/h3>\n

Kohlberg and Seldin argue the Suns denied them key financial details. Their attorneys, Michael Carlinsky and Michael Barlow of Quinn Emanuel, said in a statement:<\/p>\n

\u201cOur clients sued to obtain records to which they are entitled as minority owners of the Suns. They are concerned by the manager\u2019s approach towards minority owners and want more information about certain spending and capital raises. Transparency with minority owners is not optional.\u201d<\/p>\n

Central to their concerns is the Mercury\u2019s $100 million practice facility, unveiled in July 2024. They say they were never told how the project was funded. The only response from the Suns was that they had \u201ccomplied with [their] duties under the LLC Agreement.\u201d<\/p>\n

Buyout Talks and Capital Calls<\/h3>\n

Kohlberg began buyout discussions in September 2024. Negotiations stretched into 2025. His attorneys allege that one day after Kohlberg pressed for an answer, Ishbia issued a new capital call \u201cto exert pressure on and dilute\u201d minority shares. The lawsuit also suggests Ishbia \u201cmay have entered into undisclosed side deals\u201d with other ownership members.<\/p>\n

Suns Push Back<\/h3>\n

Team attorneys say the investors demanded an $825 million buyout \u2014 a valuation near $6 billion, far above Ishbia\u2019s 2023 purchase price. \u201cMake no mistake, [Ishbia] does not intend to reduce or slow its investments,\u201d the Suns\u2019 letter stated. \u201cInstead\u2026 Kohlberg and Seldin have resorted to threatening baseless litigation and sensationalized press coverage. That will not work.\u201d<\/p>\n

A Pattern of Conflict<\/h3>\n

The case highlights the tension that has followed Ishbia\u2019s takeover. The Suns cite investment and culture, but ownership disputes persist. Another lawsuit ensures the phrase \u201cSuns and Mat Ishbia are getting sued\u201d won\u2019t fade anytime soon.<\/p>\n

PHOENIX, Az. \u2014 Two minority owners from the Robert Sarver era are taking the Phoenix Suns to court. In a lawsuit filed Aug. 21 in Delaware, the investors claim majority owner Mat Ishbia has \u201crefused access to internal records.\u201d ESPN obtained a redacted version Wednesday. Front Office Sports first broke the news. Mat Ishbia, Suns […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5018,"featured_media":156874,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[62,1608,3,28],"tags":[49213,49619],"class_list":["post-156871","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nba","category-basketball","category-news","category-suns","tag-mat-ishbia","tag-team-ownership"],"modified_by":"Frederick Okocha","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/156871","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5018"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=156871"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/156871\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":156875,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/156871\/revisions\/156875"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/156874"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=156871"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=156871"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=156871"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}