Restricted free agent Eric Bledsoe and the Phoenix Suns remain at an impasse in contract negotiations, but Suns owner Robert Sarver still wants to sign Bledsoe to a long-term deal and is willing to have further contract negotiations, according to Paul Coro of The Arizona Republic.
Eric Bledsoe isn’t talking to the Suns, owner says
The Suns would like to have further contract negotiations with Bledsoe, but the two sides haven’t spoken in months.
Tom Szczerbowski-USA TODAY Sport
However, it doesn’t look like Bledsoe is willing to continue negotiations with the Suns after declining a four-year, $48 million contract offer. In fact, Sarver revealed the team hasn’t spoken with Bledsoe in months:
“We haven’t heard from the guy in four months, so I couldn’t tell you. I do know that when he played here, he felt good about the organization, his coaching staff and his teammates at the end of the season. We had the same feelings toward him.”
Bledsoe was hoping to receive a max offer this offseason, but no other team has stepped up to the plate with one and Phoenix likely won’t significantly up its offer. Chris Haynes of CSN Northwest reported two weeks ago the relationship between the Suns and Bledsoe was “on the express lane to being ruined,” but Sarver still values the guard and would like to sit down with him to discuss his future.
Bledsoe has a ton of upside, and he was very productive when he played last season. He averaged 17.7 points, 5.5 assists and 4.7 rebounds in his first season of starters’ minutes last year. However, he only played 43 games due to a knee injury, the second of his NBA career. The injury risk is a big reason why he hasn’t been offered the money he seeks.
Stalemate in Phoenix
Bledsoe has some options, but he’s almost certainly not getting the max money he wants. A sign-and-trade seems unlikely because the Suns want to keep him and they’d demand a massive return if they decided to put him on the block. And even in this scenario, there are no guarantees another team would want to pay him the max.
Another option is signing a one-year qualifying offer of $3.7 million in order to become an unrestricted free agent next offseason, but that would be a major risk given Bledsoe’s injury history.
The best bet for Bledsoe would be to sit down with the Suns and try to iron things out, but as Dave King at Bright Side Of The Sun points out, it appears the guard is still holding out for that max:
Apparently, this is the Bledsoe camp’s latest tactic. Don’t bother negotiating anything less than max. Wait till someone offers it to you and let them figure out how to get you on their team. And quite possibly just leave that team dangling without so much as a “thanks” when the Suns match the offer.
Hey maybe if we hold our breath long enough, the Suns will come back with the max offer we want?
Hey maybe if we try to play the victim enough, some other team will feel bad enough for us that they offer the max contract and talk the Suns into trading Bledsoe?
Hey you know what, Eric. I KNOW you’re a max player. If no one gives it to us this fall, let’s wait till next summer. Surely then, someone will give us a max offer and the Suns can’t stop them!
Given how others around the league view Bledsoe, this isn’t the best strategy:
No, Bledsoe is not a max player. And to hinge your entire future on the hope of some team throwing caution and logic to the wind to secure your services is just folly.
With Sarver and the Suns willing to negotiate with Bledsoe, the 24-year-old might just have to swallow his pride and work out a deal in the ballpark of the original offer.
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