The Eric Bledsoe Saga (part 1)

Now the rumor is that the Suns are trying to trade Eric Bledsoe rather than sign him.  Here’s the deal: Bledsoe is a restricted free agent (RFA) meaning he is allowed to go forth and pursue deals from other teams but the Suns retain the right to match any of those deals.  In this dance the player signs an offer sheet with a new team, the old team either matches it and that becomes his new contract with his old team (the Jazz with Gordon Hayward) or the old team lets him go choosing not to pay so much for his services (the Rockets with Chandler Parsons).  But with Lebron and Melo and numerous big names out and available this year, nobody set aside any money to lure Bledsoe away from the Suns.  So Bledsoe got no offers from other teams. 

That’s okay, the Suns want to keep him anyway.  Indeed, who else would they rather have?  So re-signing him ought to be a breeze.  Except that it’s not.  Without an offer from another team, the negotiations btw the Suns and Bledsoe have nowhere to start.  So Bledsoe asked for the maximum (4 yrs/$84m), the Suns offered the minimum (4 years/$48m).  Not even close.  But until someone else comes in and puts an offer out, how do Bledsoe and the Suns ever come close to agreement on value?  Well, you could try to trade him, get a sense of his trade value.  Even if the team doesn’t want to trade him (and I don’t think the Suns do, who else would they rather have?) at least something like a relative value can be deduced.  Once a reasonable price has been set, then the negotiations could begin.

Is Bledsoe worth max money?  Personally, I say yes.  I think Bledsoe is the next big star--MVP-talk, competing for a scoring title, perennial all-star, leading teams into the playoffs with reckless abandon--yeah, dude, BIG STAR!  But I can certainly understand the trepidation teams have in paying him: he hasn't done much so far.  I get it: his stats make him look like the next Eric Gordon rather than the next James Harden.  I think Bledsoe can be the man and I think the team that steps up right here, right now is gonna be the big winner going forward.  

So who are the other teams with stuff to offer?  This would have to be a sign-and-trade deal so let’s assume that Bledsoe is worth something btw $12-$14m per season.  He wants $16m/per but I don’t think he’s gonna get that this summer, so he either lowers expectations or signs his 1yr tender with the Suns.  No point in trading Bledsoe on the last year of his current deal, no point in trading for it (though that might change come the trade deadline).  So to make a trade a team would have to pony up some serious extension money to get him.  I don't think Bledsoe gets traded but there are some possibilities out there.