PHOENIX — Justin Ishbia came home from college one day to find his younger brother Mat shooting hoops over an 8-foot obstacle as he practiced for his upcoming high school basketball season.
The older brother asked why the 5-foot-10 Mat was doing that — after all, no one in high school was 8 feet tall.
“I’m going to be in the NBA one day,” Mat responded.
Turns out that was true. It just took a couple billion bucks to make it happen.
Mat Ishbia was introduced Wednesday as the new majority owner of the Phoenix Suns and WNBA’s Phoenix Mercury, after the NBA’s board of governors on Monday night approved his plan to purchase the controlling stake of those franchises from the embattled Robert Sarver.
The crowd for Ishbia’s high-energy speech included several former Suns players — particularly from the glory days in the 1990s — including Kevin Johnson, Tom Chambers and Dan Majerle. Phoenix Mayor Kate Gallego was also in attendance.
“Basketball is my life — a huge part of my life — always has been,” Ishbia said. “So when I realized I wasn’t good enough to be in the NBA, how can I one day maybe own a team?
“I didn’t know how realistic that was, but when you set big goals, you start walking toward them.”
The 43-year-old Ishbia’s first order of business is cleaning up an organization that…
