Mat Ishbia expresses confidence in Allen and O’Neale as core stabilizers
The Phoenix Suns’ post-postseason media tour has wrapped. Mat Ishbia and Brian Gregory closed the season on Thursday with their press conference , and honestly, it’s something worth appreciating here in the Valley. Not every team gives you that kind of access at the end of the year. A lot of organizations leave you guessing about direction, roster decisions, and how they view the season that just played out. That’s not the case in Phoenix.
Since Ishbia took over, ownership has been open. That deserves acknowledgment. You won’t always agree with the strategy, the draft picks, the free agency targets, or the trades. But you still get a sense of where the team is coming from. Transparency is their best currency. While no team is fully transparent, Phoenix brass gives you a window into the process at the highest level of the organization.
Part of that media tour included a stop by Mat Ishbia on the Burns and Gambo show on Arizona Sports 98.7. And one of the more interesting takeaways was his desire to keep both Grayson Allen and Royce O’Neale this offseason.
“I really think highly of Grayson and Royce, and I hope they’re both on our team next year,” Ishbia stated. “I expect them both to be on our team.”
You can look at this statement in a couple of ways.
The most obvious one starts with leverage. No owner is going to tip his hand and tell the league he’s shopping players. That lowers the value and hurts the return. If I tell you I’m trying to sell my Topps 3 autographed /49 Rasheer Fleming rookie-verse card , you’re going to negotiate harder because you know I want out. If I say I’m not looking to sell, the price goes up. Same idea here. It’s not surprising to hear ownership say they want to keep both Grayson Allen and Royce O’Neale utilizing this principle.
The second way to look at the statement is that, on the surface, Mat Ishbia and ownership want to ride the wave from this past season and don’t disrupt the boat. That’s very much in play. One thing Suns fans might not be ready for is a quiet offseason.
I think injuries capped what this team could be, and I believe the Phoenix Suns front office sees it the same way. That’s why you kept hearing “development” during the end-of-season press conference. It’s not limited to rookies. It applies to everyone on the roster. The expectation is simple: put in the work this summer and come back better across the board.
Continuity and progression become the approach. Not flipping assets. Not rebuilding chemistry again. Let the group grow together.
From my perspective, one (or both) of those assets can be used to fill in the cracks on this roster. We don’t fully know where those cracks are yet, however. There’s still work to do. The No. 47 pick in the draft. The Dillon Brooks extension. Collin Gillespie is entering free agency. Mark Williams is in restricted free agency. That’s a lot to sort through. If you’re filling gaps, Allen and O’Neale both bring desirable traits. They can shoot the three. Their contracts are manageable, as both have two years left. Those are useful pieces when you’re trying to shape the roster.
Personally, I think the organization wants to side with continuity. And truthfully? I’m not against it. We’ve had the splashy offseasons. They didn’t get you where you wanted to go. I don’t fully buy into every piece of the current roster construction theory, but still, continuity has value.
And that’s really where this all lands. You can question the ceiling, you can poke at the roster construction, and you can debate whether continuity is enough in a Western Conference that never sits still, but there’s a clarity to what the Suns are trying to do. They believe this group, healthier and more developed, can be better than what we saw. Rather than chasing the illusion of change, they’re choosing to invest in growth.
It may not be the loudest path, and it may test the patience of a fan base conditioned for fireworks. But it’s a direction, it’s intentional, and for now, it feels like the one they’re committed to seeing through.
