2:40pm: Michael Scotto of Basketball Insiders (Twitter link) hears that the Knicks have indeed contacted the Suns about a Bledsoe deal and Phoenix wants No. 8 overall pick Frank Ntilikina and Willy Hernangomez in exchange for the veteran point guard.
1:35pm: Add the Bucks to the list of teams that have expressed interest in Bledsoe, Marc Stein of the New York Times relays (Twitter link). According to Sam Amico of Amico Hoops, the Clippers and Blazers may also have interest in the point guard.
12:49pm: The Knicks are among the teams that have contacted the Suns about a Bledsoe deal, tweets ESPN’s Ian Begley.
12:34pm: The Suns are involved in trade talks with several teams regarding Bledsoe, tweets Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN. Teams know Bledsoe is available and something should happen soon, adds John Gambadoro of ArizonaSports, who states that Bledsoe believes he has played his last game with Phoenix.
12:16pm: Eric Bledsoe‘s dispute with the Suns continues to escalate as he will be held out of tonight’s home game with the Kings, tweets Chris Hayes of ESPN. Bledose met with team officials this morning and was subsequently sent home.
Bledsoe has become increasingly more open about his dissatisfaction in Phoenix, culminating with a tweet yesterday that stated “I Dont wanna be here.” That was posted roughly an hour before the team announced the firing of coach Earl Watson.
Bledose isn’t happy to be on a losing team in the prime of his career and he has lingering bitterness with the organization over shutting him down in March of last season because of soreness in his knees. A report earlier today said Bledsoe was “depressed” after a rumored deal fell through that would have sent him to Cleveland as part of the package for Kyrie Irving.
Bledsoe, 27, has spent the past four seasons in Phoenix after being acquired from the Clippers in a 2013 trade. He had his best year in 2016/17, averaging career highs in points (21.1 per game) and assists (6.3).
This is a mess. McDonough should’ve traded Bledsoe when he asked. Everybody knew Bledsoe would have to be traded at some point and trading him when he asked should’ve been a no brainer
100% agree, also knowing his deal gets closer and closer to expiring each day. Them re-establishing contact with teams for trades is another example of terrible management, they should’ve just stayed in contact with these teams the whole time. I doubt the front office knows what goes on in the locker room, there’s a disconnect somewhere in that franchise.
Honestly… Cleveland needs to get this guy. No guarantees on how IT will play when he gets back.
Frye, Shumpert and the Brooklyn Pick?
BKN pick should be off the table if it’s just for Bledsoe. Add in another asset and you might have something. Chriss would be worth a look, since he isn’t mentioned as an untouchable.
That’s the kind of delusional thinking usually reserved for Lakers fans. You don’t get Bledsoe for nothing and that’s what Frye and Shumpert are.
I agree. To think the Suns would trade Bledsoe/Chriss for Frey/Shump/BKN 1st is insane. Not to mention it’s no lock that the team that have Brooklyn’s 1 will get to keep it. Come on now.
Brooklyn’s pick this year is unprotected so if Cleveland did trade it, it would likely still be unprotected or it would have very little protections on it. But the Brooklyn pick, as of right now, is still too valuable to give up for Bledsoe without more coming back. I agree that Shump/Frye doesn’t get you close to Bledsoe, but Bledsoe shouldn’t get you back the Brooklyn pick either, even with Frye/Shump’s inclusion as a salary dump. I mean you’re talking a far drop off in value if were going from it being included in the Kyrie trade to talks about it being a potential piece in a Boogie Cousins trade to being the biggest piece in a Bledsoe trade.
JT19 with the most sense I’ve seen posted here for a while.
Gee, the Suns are making GarPax look….well….somewhat competent? Speaking of my Bulls, is there a team that is a Bledsoe short of making a deep playoff push, but can’t because of $ and the Bulls can facilitate a money dump to get more draft picks and continue looking somewhat competent?
Well I think Brogdon is more of an off ball guard, and MIL doesn’t have a real PG. If they could dump Henson in Chicago, I think he’s close to Bledsoe.
Ntilikina and Hernangomez?! After he said that he’s not playing for y’all anymore? I would say that’s insane but can you count out anything when it comes to the Knicks?
He can say whatever, but he is still under contract. When those checks stop coming in, he will play. There is no reason to give him away for nothing.
Definitely true but I would think that asking for two young players from a rebuilding team who wants Bledsoe as a mentor for Ntilikina is a lot to ask. I view Bledsoe’s trade value now as Mudiay plus someone else for salary matching.
Mudiay has almost no value though. Bledsoe can definitely get more than purely Mudiay plus salary (if it was that easy, Bledsoe would already be on the Nuggets). Bledsoe’s remarks definitely hurt his value but they’re not on the Paul George-“I want to play in LA” level of killing leverage.
How are the checks going to stop coming in if the team tells Bledsoe not to report? They can’t say “don’t come to the arena and also we’re not going to pay you.”
That request from the Suns is delusional. Plus those checks won’t stop coming in unless they dump him for nothing. Not going to happen, this isn’t the NFL.
I’m not quite sure where the fit is for the Blazers. Someone help me out with this one, but it seems like a luxury more than a need.
I don’t see a fit either. I can’t see any of their guards being able to play the 3. Trying to play Lilliard, CJ and Bledsoe big minutes over essentially 2 positions seems unrealistic
I think Amico just kind of threw the Blazers into the hat since they have an interest in acquiring a third star player (not that I would really consider Bledsoe a star player). To be fair, Amico saying Blazers could have interest sounds more like writer-speculation than rumor/source based.
Agreed
His trade value is in the toilet because of how the Suns have handled this. They won’t get close to value for him. I would trade next years Cavs pic (Not Nets pick) along with the young big man they got from the Celtics, and call it a day.
Bledsoe got sent to the Bucks for Parker and a 2nd round draft pick
Noooooooooooo!!!!!
Milwaukee Bucks: Assessing potential Eric Bledsoe trade pieces
Has not happened yet!
SMH
Liar. Not even possible as stated
Parker won’t be able to pass a physical until December at earliest. They did decline his option.
I can see Bledsoe going for Mudiay since it was discussed last summer and maybe Faried. The Nuggets are over the cap!
Ntilikina and Hernangomez is too much for Bledsoe, but I’d imagine Hernangomez plus more could be enough. Doubt the Knicks want to move Ntilikina since they should be rebuilding, but the Knicks just don’t have any other attractive assets to a rebuilding Suns team outside of Ntilikina, Hernangomez, and KP (the latter obviously being off the table/untouchable). Maybe Hernangomez, salary filler, and a future first?
I can see that. Hernangomez isn’t even in the knicks regular rotation and could give the suns a young big they desperately need. Knicks get veteran leadership and suns get young assets for the future.
Anyway for the wolves
Probably the celtics. With all those draft picks?
Irving was too old for NY at age 25. Bledsoe is 27. And NY is not trying to win. Odd noises coming from Phx.