Phoenix is keeping another familiar face in place, as CEO Josh Bartelstein has agreed to an extension and will remain part of Mat Ishbia’s front office setup.
Bartelstein, 37, was the first hire Ishbia made after taking over the franchise, and the Suns have leaned hard into continuity ever since. The move fits the broader pattern around the organization, where the connections keep circling back to Michigan: Ishbia, Bartelstein, general manager Brian Gregory and head coach Jordan Ott have all passed through the university at one point or another.
That shared background has helped create a unified structure, and the Suns did reach the playoffs last season. But Bartelstein’s new deal is likely to draw a mixed response in The Valley, because the results since he arrived have not been spotless.
He came in with a strong reputation from his time with the Detroit Pistons, but the front office has taken heat for some of its bigger swings. The Bradley Beal and Jusuf Nurkic trades stand out as the roughest of the bunch, and the recent deal for Miles Bridges has also raised eyebrows. The source of the criticism is clear enough: an unprotected first-round pick was included, while the Hornets landed two real rotation players in return.
That is the kind of move that leaves people questioning the business side of things. The same goes for the decision to chase Kevin Durant in the first place.
Bartelstein cannot be blamed for every part of that, but that is part of the issue too. He and Ishbia are plainly aligned, yet there is a case for having some pushback inside the room when major decisions are on the table.
Whether that happens often enough here is fair to ask.
Still, there is another side to the story. This front office and ownership group has moved away from the Robert Sarver era in a way that is hard to deny. The Durant pursuit was the sort of call plenty of teams would have made in the moment, and it would be too harsh to pin last season’s frustrations entirely on Bartelstein.
There were also some solid moves along the way. Bringing back Collin Gillespie and Jordan Goodwin made sense, and adding Pat Spencer on a two-way deal was a smart touch.
So while some fans will keep plenty of criticism aimed at the moves the team has made, that comes with the territory. Bartelstein is staying, and given how closely this operation has been built around Ishbia’s vision, it should not come as much of a shock.
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For a front office that has been under pressure to get value and continuity right, both contracts look like the sort of business fans have been asking for. Analyst Steph Noh viewed each deal as favorable relative to the impact the Suns can reasonably expect, which matters for a team trying to build around players who can actually fit together. The bigger question now is how much more of the roster Phoenix can stabilize after checking off two important boxes. [Read more 🡒]
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Ighodaro has the cleaner case right now because of his versatility and the way he can fill different roles, while Dunn is facing a tougher climb as the competition tightens around him. If either player gets squeezed out of the rotation, the pressure only grows from there, because the Suns are already in a position where every developmental decision has to be weighed against immediate help and the possibility of moving pieces before the deadline. [Read more 🡒]
Suns May Have Just Reopened A Problem Fans Thought Was Gone
The Suns latest swing has already drawn plenty of second-guessing, and its easy to see why. Phoenix sent Miles Bridges to Charlotte and brought back Grayson Allen, Royce ONeale and an unprotected 2033 first-round pick, a package that gives the roster more shooting, more wing depth and a future asset to point to if the move works out.
Still, the reaction around the deal has been far less settled than the Hornets side of it, where the focus has been on veteran help and draft capital after moving on from players viewed as bad influences. For Phoenix, the bigger question is whether this was a clean basketball upgrade or the kind of transaction that reopens old concerns about whether the Suns are buying into a short-term fit without much certainty about what comes next. [Read more 🡒]