PHOENIX — UPDATE (6:00 pm)
Billionaire mortgage lender Mat Ishbia's $4 billion purchase of the Suns has moved another step closer to completion, according to ESPN.
Senior NBA writer Baxter Holmes is reporting that the Suns are scheduling a press conference for the morning of February 8, introducing Ishbia as their new owner.
That would be the same morning as the WM Phoenix Open's Annexus Pro-Am at TPC Scottsdale and the day before the NBA's trade deadline.
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The next era of the Phoenix Suns and Phoenix Mercury is set to begin within the next few weeks. Billionaire mortgage lender Mat Ishbia's $4 billion purchase of a majority stake in the teams is expected to be approved in the next two weeks, according to ESPN's Baxter Holmes and Adrian Wojnarowski.
Ishbia will reportedly assume control of the Suns before the NBA's trade deadline on February 9.
This could make it easier for the Suns to move forward Jae Crowder, who has not been with the team all season as part of a 'mutual decision' between Crowder and the Suns.
Soon-to-be former owner Robert Sarver was suspended in September 2022 after Holmes reported in November 2021 on Sarver's workplace misconduct over the course of his 17 years as the team's owner and a subsequent 10-month-long investigation by the NBA into those claims.
Sarver announced that he was selling his stake in the Suns last September but reportedly still had the right to sign off on any major trade made by the Suns, which means any trade, free agent signing, or other addition of a player who has a salary higher than $10.8 million, which is the league-wide average.
Crowder currently makes $10.2 million.
Ishbia agreed to buy the Suns and Mercury in December and attended his first Suns game at Footprint Center last week.
According to ESPN, Ishbia will have more than 50% ownership of both teams, with the rest owned by a share of minority partners including Ishbia's brother, Justin.
Holmes tweeted out that the NBA's Board of Governors is expected to ratify the purchase in early February.
Ishbia is the president and CEO of United Wholesale Mortgage, which is based in Michigan, and played college basketball at Michigan State, where he was a part of the 2000 National Championship team under head coach Tom Izzo.