How Mat Ishbia Paved The Way For The Phoenix Mercury 2025 WNBA Finals Run

Kahleah Copper doesn’t remember the last time she visited a grocery store.

That’s because, living in the Valley and playing for the WNBA Finalist Phoenix Mercury, she no longer has to.

Every time Copper steps inside the Mercury’s cutting-edge practice facility, she’s met with everything a hooper could want – including meals prepped by the team’s personal chef.

It might sound like a luxury. But it’s actually the result of a franchise being treated like a priority, which goes back to the major investment and commitment that ownership made two years ago.

Mat Ishbia had a vision when he purchased the Phoenix Mercury and Suns for $4 billion in February 2023: It was time to invest in women’s sports. Frankly, it was overdue. And he wasn’t shy about spreading the word to everyone.

When current head coach Nate Tibbetts was interviewing for the Mercury job that summer, Ishbia’s words had him compelled.

“He wanted to treat the Mercury at the same level as the Suns,” Tibbetts said. “You never really know [if it’s true]. But then, you see the plans and you’re like … ‘oh well, that’s pretty impressive.’”

Those plans have culminated in a WNBA Finals run for the league’s most fascinating team. One that has flipped the script culturally, embraced the underdog mentality, and eliminated both of last year’s finalists.

“We made a bunch of changes day one,” Ishbia said last week. “You’re seeing two and a half years later, some of the successes. We were the worst team in the WNBA [in 2023]. The front office changed completely, the head coaching changed completely, and the roster changed completely. Now we’re starting to see the results.”

Since the first day he greeted everyone, Ishbia has continually mentioned the Mercury in the same breath as the Suns. Rewind to just last week during Suns media day. Ishbia’s opening remarks centered on the Mercury’s gritty comeback road win against the top-seeded Minnesota Lynx.

The players have also noticed it.

“I think it’s super important – some people talk about it, but some people are about it,” Copper expressed. “Mat is about it. He never mentions the Suns without the Mercury, and that’s important to have that level playing field and knowing the owner is truly invested and really cares about us.”

Within a few months of owning the team, Ishbia was already planning his biggest investment.

In October 2023, Ishbia and the Mercury unveiled their plans for a new 58,000-square-foot practice facility in downtown Phoenix. The announcement came on the heels of a disappointing Mercury season, finishing 9-31 with a bleak roster outlook.

But the past didn’t matter to Ishbia. This was his way of laying the foundation for a new era.

He wasn’t about to seek public funding or put the burden on taxpayers, either. The $100 million investment was privately-funded by Ishbia to ensure it got completed without roadblocks.

The facility, now branded as the Mountain America Performance Center, opened in a record amount of time. In fact, only 287 days passed from the original announcement until the ribbon-cutting ceremony and opening of the doors. Ishbia needed to prove how serious he was.

“I didn’t think it would happen so quickly in the same season I came here,” Copper said. “But they kept their word! They told me what it was going to be.”

Ishbia wanted to make life easier on the players. Arguably the best way to accomplish that is reducing their travel time on practice and game days.

That’s why he purchased land within one mile of PHX Arena for the Mercury to call home. With all of the players residing in the downtown area, it made the most logistical sense. No cross-town commuting necessary.

The convenience factor also gave the players an easier – and healthier – route for food, exercise, and mental health days.

“My favorite part is the kitchen because I love to eat,” Copper said with a grin. “I love our chefs. They have been incredible all year. I just love that I have access to this. Sometimes in the offseason, I can come in here at 9 pm and just shoot by myself. I can turn the music up as loud as I want.”

Having your own home carries some weight. The Mercury will often have players from the Suns’ G-League affiliate reach out to see if they can use the court at random times since it’s downtown.

They always oblige, because the fabric of Phoenix’s culture is caring about people and positioning everyone for success, from top to bottom.

Still – Copper admits it feels nice for women to have a prominent voice.

“I don’t have to come in and have to check with anybody else to see if someone is using the court,” she said. “Like, this is our s**t.”

With the players having 24/7 access to the courts and amenities, it’s essentially their basketball sanctuary.

Each player has their own personal locker with a mirror, ample space for shoes and accessories, and a nameplate stylized to match the periodic table of elements, a clever touch on Mercury branding.

When the building first opened, many players raved about their ability to leave belongings at the locker without worrying about someone taking them. Those are the little things the average person doesn’t think about regarding women having their own space.

Right outside the locker room, the players also have access to many different forms of self-care. The Mercury installed a hydrotherapy room with hot and cold plunge pools, a freestanding underwater treadmill, along with a sauna and steam room.

Oh, and if those spaces get crowded on a practice day, there are two massage rooms for relaxation.

Satou Sabally certainly appreciates how comprehensive the plan was. As the three-time All-Star who led the Mercury in scoring this season, she knows how critical the recovery process is for top-flight athletes.

“You get the vitamins and you have the sports science,” Sabally said. “[Ishbia] really funds so many things that are relevant for peak performance. That’s what we aspire to do. We want to be peak performers and he gives us that.”

The Mercury have massive spaces dedicated to strength and cardio training, which is still the largest gym or workout space in the WNBA.

Everything a player could want is simply a few steps away.

Now in her sixth season, Sabally knows that type of workout convenience isn’t the norm for WNBA teams. Not yet, at least.

She usually spends her entire day in the facility, from 8am to 3pm. Even for someone who loves cooking in her spare time, as she tells Forbes, she’s thankful for the chefs who allow her to reallocate some of that valuable time to her workouts.

“It’s an environment that really lets you do that,” she said. “You don’t have to bounce around. I’ve been in an organization where they had to outsource a lot of things when it comes to recovery. That’s not the case here. Everything is in one spot.”

Sabally recalls the feeling she had after taking her first tour of the facility.

She landed in Phoenix this past February after the Mercury pulled off the most monumental trade of the offseason, which also included MVP candidate Alyssa Thomas and center Kalani Brown.

Before introducing Sabally to the media for the first time, Mercury General Manager Nick U’Ren showed her around. While ‘disbelief’ would appropriately describe her reaction, it was for a different reason than you’d expect.

“My first thought was, this could truly be compared to an NBA level,” Sabally said. “I just thought okay, the men always get everything. Women are always getting the short end of the stick. So just being in an organization where the owner feels like, no, the women carry the same value as the men, that already convinced me.”

There’s a lot of truth to it. Because of the wider scale of resources NBA teams have, the men’s facilities and amenities often absorb more attention and money.

Not in Phoenix.

And it’s not just the players who have witnessed the disparity in resources around other cities. Head coaches, along with their staff and travel party, are also the ones exposed to the advantages of good ownership. Their day-to-day processes can only run smoothly if they have the necessary tools.

In a recent conversation with Forbes, Tibbetts describes the atmosphere as exactly like what he’s experienced during his 10-plus years around the NBA. In many aspects, the Mercury’s culture is elevated above those teams.

When Tibbetts picks up the phone and chats with his former NBA colleagues, he’s now recommending them for various jobs around the WNBA because of the growth and future he sees for the league.

He credits Ishbia for making everyone feel valued within the organization, coaches and team employees included.

“When you walk into this facility, you just feel like, okay it’s not just talk. The resources are available for you and it’s a great feeling,” Tibbetts said.

Through his leadership, Ishbia is making sure the Mercury don’t fall prey to what dozens of other franchises seem to have in common. Pick your favorite sport – there are guaranteed to be teams who say all of the right things at the beginning of the year, but quickly put the checkbook away when it’s time to invest in the people.

Copper notices the difference even more on the road. Gone are the days of Mercury players staying in the cheapest rooms, or not being treated the way 99% of professional athletes are regarding charter flights. Both of those issues have been fixed.

“We’re staying in the best hotels,” she said. “Sleeping in a very comfortable Four Seasons bed is second-to-none. I think that’s important. Sleep is how we recover.”

Any WNBA player who has spent over a decade in the league will tell you how life usually was on the road.

The concept of healthy or upscale team meals was non-existent. Players also felt more like individuals rather than part of a collective group.

Phoenix has revamped the entire system over the last two years. Ishbia empowered his team, led by Mercury President Vince Kozar and Director of Basketball Operations Kyra Vidas, to give their players all the same resources the Suns have on the road.

The Mercury now use team meals as a source of bonding and building camaraderie, which can only explain how a team with very little continuity blossomed together in such a short time frame.

“I don’t know if we’ve set the standard, but there’s definitely people trying to catch us in terms of how we treat our players,” Tibbetts said.

One of the core tenets Ishbia leaned into after arriving in Phoenix was redefining the Suns and Mercury culture. Instead of it becoming a buzzword without real meaning, he poured resources into the most important ingredient, which is taking care of people.

“Money follows success is how my business career has always been,” Ishbia says. “Do the right thing, win, and money will follow. Don’t focus on money. Focus on people.”

Beyond the facility and road benefits, he signed off on the Mercury doubling their medical staff compared to the previous ownership group. Player safety and readiness, especially when the WNBA keeps expanding the number of games and back-to-backs, wasn’t going to be compromised.

In professional sports, it takes a village. An owner that cares isn’t always going to lead to wins. Management has to design a strategy, and the players have to execute on the floor.

The Mercury are in the Finals because everything has coalesced at the right time, within every department. But the players are still grateful for feeling elevated.

“If you don’t set an example by being the best at what you do, how can you expect it from your players? So I feel like he’s really checking that box, majorly,” Sabally said.

Both sides have held up their end of the bargain this season, and it’s why a fourth WNBA title for Phoenix might be on the horizon.