Happy Thursday! One day from the weekend, and I hope your week is going well!

I’ll get to the Suns and all their drama below, but first, exciting news, as our PHNX Cardinals team will be doing a live show at Rally House Tanger Westgate on Sept. 12! It’s free to attend, so sign up right here and let us know you’re coming. Also, if you’ve never been to Rally House before, get ready, because I could spend hours just strolling through and checking out their gear.

While I’m plugging our amazing Cardinals crew, come out today and check out their residency at Gila River Resorts and Casinos! The show kicks off at 4:30 pm, and will be followed by our PHNX season preview and PHNX staff fantasy football draft! Hope to see you there!

On to the show!

New Lawsuit Raises Familiar Drama for Suns Fans

What is it about being an Arizona sports fan that makes it feel like our teams are constantly followed by dark, stormy clouds?

It’s almost comical — but, yeah, not at all.

Seriously, let’s just look at the last few years of headlines:

• Cardinals: Owner Michael Bidwill has been in the headlines multiple times in the past two years, once in 2023 after an arbitration complaint was filed against him, and he was sued earlier this year by a former assistant. It should be known, the Cardinals have repeatedly denied any wrongdoing.
• Diamondbacks: Stadium drama is now behind us, at least, and our beloved Snakes have done a solid job staying out of the headlines, at least from a front office perspective. Internally, though, is another story.
• Coyotes: Too soon. You all know the story here, and we don’t have an NHL team because of it.

Which brings us to the Suns.

Before I get to the most recent reports, need I remind you of the Robert Sarver drama? The former Suns and Mercury owner sold the teams after he was fined $10 million and suspended for one season by the NBA, which resulted from allegations of racism and misogyny that surfaced.

The most recent allegations are financial in nature, but they’re still bringing a whole heap of unwanted attention to the organization.

Our very own Gerald Bourguet broke the news on Tuesday that owner Mat Ishbia’s ISH Suns LLC, the controlling stakeholder of Suns Legacy Holdings LLC, recently rejected buyout demands from two partners.

That was followed up yesterday with reports from multiple outlets — including AZcentral’s Duane Rankin — that those same minority owners have filed suit against Suns Legacy Holdings, led by Ishbia, to “permit the inspection of books and records.”

The Suns have not commented publicly on the matter.

Suns, Ishbia Accused of “Side Deals” With Other Investor Members

This one is a doozy — and the Cliffs Notes are below. (Note that Front Office Sports published a redacted version of the complaint, which you can view here.)

What the Lawsuit Alleges:

• Refusal to permit the inspection of books and records to which the Members are entitled.
• Engaged in a pattern of conduct that has deprived the Members of basic information about the Company and its management.
• Members have reason to believe … that the manager has entered into multiple undisclosed side deals with other investor members of the Company.

What the Plaintiffs are Seeking:

• The Suns to produce the requested books and records, which include:
  • Any agreements with any investor member related to a June 2, 2025 call that was held regarding raising additional capital.
  • Any other agreements of any type with any investor member.
  • Any actual or anticipated related party transactions.
  • Bank statements showing the amounts and dates on which any portion of the June 2, 2025 capital call was funded and by whom.
• The Suns to pay reasonable legal fees, costs, expenses, including attorney’s fees and other professional fees in connection with the plaintiffs’ books and records demands.
• Unspecified further relief “as the Court may deem just and proper.”

There’s a reason I’m not a lawyer or a political reporter.

The bottom line here, though, is there is unquestionably a huge amount of discord among the multiple Suns ownership groups, and this doesn’t look like it’s going to be resolved any time soon.

You can bet I’ll keep you posted, though.

My Take: I just don’t understand why we can’t have nice things here in the desert. Just when it seemed like the Suns and Mercury had some truly positive momentum within the basketball operations departments, the business side is getting ugly. This one isn’t around mistreatment in the workplace, but instead, harbors accusations of conflict of interest and deception.

We’ll let this one play out in court (or get settled out of court), but this is just another chapter of negative headlines for long-suffering Arizona sports fans.

Brewing Up a Win: The D-backs got back in the win column with a 3-2 win in Milwaukee yesterday, and have an opportunity to split their four-game set with the Brewers tomorrow. Blaze Alexander led the way with two RBI while Ryne Nelson earned the win after allowing just one earned run on six hits in six innings while striking out three.

No Rest For the Weary: The Mercury are back in action tonight following Tuesday’s win over Los Angeles, opening a three-game home stand by hosting the 9-28 Chicago Sky (7 pm, Prime Video). Alyssa Thomas is in search of her eighth triple-double of the season — she already broke her own record and notched her seventh against the Sparks.

Phoenix then hosts New York on Saturday before wrapping up their home stand against Indiana on Tuesday.

Yesterday was not a good day to talk Suns basketball.