Josh Bartelstein’s journey in the NBA began with a humbling task: finding a shoe shiner for a friend of Detroit Pistons vice chairman Arn Tellem.
Reflecting on his time as captain of the University of Michigan’s basketball team, he recalls, “I remember thinking, ‘Wow, I’m a long way from playing in the national championship. Now I’m just trying to find a Detroit shoe shiner for Arn’s friend.’”
His duties today are no longer so trivial. At 35, Bartelstein is one of the youngest executives ever to lead an NBA franchise, beginning his second season as CEO of the Phoenix Suns. In his first 18 months, he helped build a competitive roster by placing Bradley Beal, Grayson Allen and Tyus Jones around stars Devin Booker and Kevin Durant, opened a state-of-the-art practice facility, and brought the 2024 WNBA All-Star Game to Phoenix.
But all this is a prologue to his real challenge for the 2024-2025 season: capitalizing on Booker’s prime and getting the Suns back to the Finals, while 30-something talents Durant and Beal still have greatness left in the tank. “We want to bring the first championship to the Phoenix Suns,” Bartelstein emphasizes. “It’s hard to win championships, but that’s what we set out to do.”
Expectations and stakes are high. Phoenix has the highest-salaried roster of any team in the NBA, with a payroll of $223 million. Owner Mat Ishbia spent $4 billion on the Suns, the cornerstone of his Player 15 Group, which includes the Suns, the Phoenix Mercury, the G-league Valley Suns and management of the city-owned Footprint Center arena. As CEO of the Suns and Mercury, Bartelstein oversees more than 500 employees and manages the portfolio and revenue of the basketball teams. The person who oversees the internal department that handles the booking for all the events at Footprint Center also reports to Bartelstein.
He also faces the challenge of making Phoenix’s new G-league team, the Valley Suns, profitable (the team plays in the 5,000-seat Mullett Arena on the Arizona State University campus), and continuing the upward trajectory of a possible post-Diana Taurasi Phoenix Mercury team, who were part of the Caitlin Clark-fueled attendance spike that happened across WNBA franchises in 2024 (the Mercury saw a 48 percent increase in attendance and a 66 percent increase in revenue over the previous season). “As CEO, I have to make sure we’re executing at a really high level,” Bartelstein says. “From a concert on a Tuesday to making a trade on a Wednesday to driving ticket revenue, it’s literally every component of this organization.”
Bartelstein breaks the mold of basketball CEOs, who tend either to be hands-on owners like Jeanie Buss (Los Angeles Lakers) or C-suite business managers like Cynt Marshall (Dallas Mavericks) with limited control over on-court personnel decisions. Bartelstein is something of a hybrid: both a surrogate of Ishbia (who is primarily busy running his mortgage empire back in Michigan) and a well-connected deal-maker who, given his history as a former college player and assistant GM in Detroit, has a strong hand in roster decisions, alongside general manager James Jones. “The cool part about my job and role is that it’s so broad,” Bartelstein says. “I oversee the business operations, but also the basketball operations.”
The sports business is in Bartelstein’s blood. The son of sports agent Mark Bartelstein, Josh grew up around NBA and NFL legends. “My favorite memories were sitting on the couch with my dad, watching his players play. My dream was to run an NBA team,” he says. “I’d see him on the phone with players or coaches, and I would just listen. All I wanted was to be on the other end of that call. Basketball was my life.”
Born in Highland Park, Illinois, Bartelstein played basketball and baseball as a youth. He was a walk-on at the University of Michigan and captained the 2012-2013 team that included future NBA stars Trey Burke and Tim Hardaway Jr. and competed for the national championship. “As a walk-on, I had to earn everything. Nothing was given to me,” he says. “That’s where I get the mantra, ‘Think big, act small.’ Have huge ideas, but there’s a humility to how
you operate.”
Bartelstein spent eight years with the Detroit Pistons in various roles including Tellem’s assistant, chief of staff and assistant general manager. In April 2023, he was named Suns CEO by Ishbia, who praises Bartelstein’s head for business, but also his heart. “The care factor that Josh brings is off the charts, and that leads to creating the best culture in the league and doing great things for fans,” Ishbia says. “Josh could run any organization and be successful because he cares, he works his butt off and he wants to be great. One of the best decisions I made since owning the team was getting Josh Bartelstein to become our CEO.”
Bartelstein says his job is made easier by the support of his wife, Sydney, whom he married two years ago. “This job is incredibly demanding. It’s the best job ever, but it’s long hours, high-stress and -pressure, and public-facing. And I travel a lot,” he says. “Me and Sydney have done it together, and she’s a huge reason why I love what I get to do.”
Despite the stress of Bartelstein’s position, Suns GM Jones says Bartelstein brings something special to sports: levity.
“He tries to make everything fun, and that’s unique in the sports world, where they tell you that you have to be a certain way – you have to be intense, you have to be uptight, you have to be forceful. It has to be hard,” Jones says. “He finds a way to make it fun and easy.”
Bartelstein says his greatest accomplishment is the happiness of the people who work for the Player 15 Group. “That’s what Mat Ishbia and I bonded over – treating people the right way, and I’m proud that we’re doing that every single day. Maybe some people see the big, flashy things. I care more about this,” Bartelstein says. “The humility piece is important to me. I’m not some hot shot. I don’t have all the answers.”
