How This NBA Owner Fleeced America

EPISODE 84: A mind-boggling investigation.

Not gonna mince words here: Today’s episode of Pablo Torre Finds Out is one of the most important in the first seven months of our show.

It’s about an investigation into some of the richest and most powerful people in sports; what lurks beneath the hood of the American economy; Wednesday’s game between the Phoenix Suns and Cleveland Cavaliers; and, yes, the word “cocksucker.”

Our guest is my friend Sam Koppelman, from a startup called Hunterbrook Media (more on this later). What Sammy and I often talk about is basketball — the Knicks, even more depressingly. But this recently led us to a conversation about a massive story that Hunterbrook happened to be investigating… about United Wholesale Mortgage (UWM), which is the biggest mortgage lender in America.

And about the billionaire behind it: Phoenix Suns owner Mat Ishbia, the former Michigan State walk-on — and Isiah Thomas superfan — whose success with UWM allowed him to buy the Suns and the WNBA’s Phoenix Mercury at a record price of $4 billion.

Which brings us to a voicemail that you’ll hear in the episode, where Ishbia discusses defeating his archnemesis in mortgage lending: none other than Cleveland Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert. Aka the owner of Rocket Mortgage. Aka Mr. Comic Sans himself.

You should know that Ishbia’s company, according to Hunterbrook Media’s data analysis, has received $39 billion in mortgages over the last four years from an army of so-called “independent” brokers. And I say “independent,” in quotes, because this army of loyalists, it turns out, sent the company virtually all of their business.

Even when there were cheaper options available. And despite the fact that these brokers advertised themselves as impartial advocates for everyday Americans — the homebuyers who came to them for help making the biggest purchase of their lives.

Which raises many questions that Sam gets into, in today’s episode and in Hunterbrook’s bombshell reporting.

But here’s why Hunterbrook’s story is also, clearly, a sports story: Ishbia’s win-now approach is very much reflected in his aggressive moves as an owner. This is the guy, after all, who wasted no time in trading for Kevin Durant and then for Bradley Beal, too.

We here at PTFO spoke to a person intimately familiar with the Suns’ organization, who compared Ishbia’s approach to basketball to “the way he runs his company. It was very just kind of Wolf of Wall Street-esque. Just kind of come in and win, win, win, go, go, go, destroy everyone.”

And then there’s Isiah Thomas.

As a New Yorker who lived through his tumultuous, scandal-ridden tenure as Knicks president and head coach, I was fascinated by Isiah’s current relationship with Ishbia — sitting courtside in Phoenix, literally whispering in his ear — and with the Suns, who had been reeling from their own tumultuous scandal under the previous franchise owner, Robert Sarver.

Our Suns source also told PTFO that Isiah, indeed, has a major voice in basketball operations. Last season, for instance: “Isiah traveled to all the playoff games. Not with the team, but with Mat. He was in the tunnels, in the meal rooms, he had a prominent role in the draft room. He was a major voice amongst the staff and to the staff about how to do things, why to do things.”

Thing is, Isiah is also Mat Ishbia’s business partner at UWM. For years, in fact, he’s been an independent board member, a government-required guardrail against potential malfeasance. 

Except, by around the time we were looking into the Isiah part of this story, UWM quietly removed the “independent” label from his status. Which raises even more questions that we discuss in today’s episode.

Is Isiah shadow-managing the Suns? Could Mat Ishbia be forced to give up the franchise, if there are repercussions following Hunterbrook’s reporting?

Thomas and the NBA didn’t return our requests for comment, but I encourage you to watch the full episode for more context and mind-boggling scale.

And I encourage you to check out Hunterbrook Media’s full investigation at www.hntrbrk.com. Their newsroom specializes in the deep dissection of public data, the results of which are then shared with Hunterbrook Capital, an affiliated investment fund — which can then trade on, and profit off, the information Hunterbrook Media discovers. And also support more and more reporting.

DKN/YOUTUBE SPOILER ALERT:

Scoopily,

Pablo