The Phoenix Suns have overtaken the Memphis Grizzlies as the most Michigan State-friendly team in the NBA — for now.
It didn’t happen overnight, though. No, May Ishbia has been working at this for a few years now. He bought the franchise in 2022 and has been crafting his roster both on the court and in the front office so he can mold it into a comfortable, familiar, family-like organization.
The only clear way for Ishbia to do that was by surrounding himself with Michigan State people. He’s hiring some familiar faces in key positions and he just landed himself a big fish, trading for Miles Bridges.
After trading for Bridges, some people began to notice the Ishbia plan of turning the painfully-named Mortgage Matchup Center into the Breslin Center.
There it is. Introducing the Phoenix Suns/Spartans!
— Tom Haberstroh (@tomhaberstroh) June 28, 2026
Michigan State connection ...
✅ Suns owner Mat Ishbia (alum)
✅ Suns GM Bryan Gregory (ast coach there)
✅ Suns head coach Jordan Ott (ast coach there)
✅ Suns ast coach Mateen Cleaves (alum)
✅ Suns forward Miles Bridges… https://t.co/VHkJj7vLPz
Other than Spartan alum and former walk-on and national champion Ishbia himself, the Suns have three other Spartans either in the front office or on the coaching staff as well as one (Bridges) who he just traded for to be a second scoring threat next to Devin Booker.
Former assistant coach Brian Gregory is the Suns’ GM, head coach Jordan Ott was a grad assistant and video coordinator for Izzo and the Spartans from 2008-13, and last but certainly not least, Mateen Cleaves is a new assistant coach for Phoenix.
The coaching staff, one of the star players, and the most important front office roles are all Spartans. That’s a Spartan takeover in the desert.
Mat Ishbia tried to add a sixth Spartan last offseason
One of the stories that surprised me the most from this past season was when Tom Izzo revealed that he almost took another NBA job last offseason. While he didn’t say how close he was, he did say that he contemplated it and had to have some family discussions.
Ultimately, he decided to remain with Michigan State and continue to pursue that second national title. He was just on the doorstep, winning the Big Ten and making the Elite Eight.
Fortunately for Michigan State, he didn’t Dusty May and he decided to stick around when another NBA organization came sniffing. He’s adamant about returning Michigan State to the top of the college basketball world, but Ishbia tried to do him a favor and let him leave the horrors of the NCAA to spend his remaining coaching years in a desert paradise.
Thankfully Izzo didn’t give into the retirement plan and returned after more than zero minutes of thought and he led Michigan State to 27 wins and a top-five recruiting class.
Izzo is a legendary head coach who any fan would be lucky to have leading their program when you don’t have a Michigan slappy in your ear telling you he stinks — just ask the handful of NBA organizations who’ve wanted him over the past 25 years.
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