3 lessons owner Mat Ishbia should learn from disaster season

1. Championships can't be bought

There have been a good number of teams that have failed to back up their talk after forming a superteam in the NBA's history. Unfortunately, the Suns are included in that list. Ishbia tried buying his way into a championship and it backfired as Phoenix failed to win a single game in the postseason against the young Minnesota Timberwolves.

The best example of this was the Brooklyn Nets in 2013. The Nets traded for Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett, as they sought to win a title. They gave up a significant amount of draft capital to the Boston Celtics, four first-rounders to be exact. That transaction set them back for a good number of years, which could be the future of the Suns.

Ishbia wanted to win now, with the pieces that he thought would work out. But that usually doesn't come to fruition, except if the team has a generational player like Steph Curry or LeBron James. Although Durant could be considered as a generational talent, he hasn't won since leaving the Golden State Warriors in 2019.

The Suns were one player away from winning the title in 2021 and that was the reason they were linked to Durant. Making a move to acquire him was understandable and that required giving up a few of their future assets. But when Ishbia decided to trade for Beal and give away more of their assets, hoping to win the title this season, Phoenix was already on the wrong path.

It may take time for him to realize what he did, but it's a valuable lesson if they want to be a competitive team in the long run.