Phoenix Suns Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Suns Sign Joe Jackson

September 27th, 2014 at 11:36am CST by Zachary Links

SEPTEMBER 27TH, 11:36am: The signing is official, the team has announced.

SEPTEMBER 25TH, 11:02pm: The signing has taken place, as the RealGM transactions log indicates.

SEPTEMBER 8TH, 4:55pm: Joe Jackson, an undrafted point guard out of Memphis, is finalizing a free agent deal with the Suns, a league source tells Shams Charania of RealGM (via Twitter). Terms of the deal are not yet known.

Jackson worked out for the Wolves, Kings, Suns, Knicks, Rockets, Mavs, Grizzlies, and Jazz, but didn’t hear his name called in the 2014 Draft. Apparently, Jackson was able to step out in his June 3rd audition in front of Phoenix brass where he worked out alongside Jerami Grant, Ronald Roberts Jr. and Cam Bairstow.

The 6’0″ guard was ranked as the 49th best senior in his NCAA class by DraftExpreess. In 2013/14, Jackson averaged 14.4 PPG, 4.5 APG, and 3.6 RPG in 33.6 minutes per contest.

Suns Sign Barron, Prather

September 27th, 2014 at 11:34am CST by Chuck Myron

SEPTEMBER 27TH, 11:34am: The signings are official, the team has announced.

SEPTEMBER 25TH, 11:05pm: The signings have taken place, according to the RealGM transactions log.

AUGUST 26TH, 8:21am: The Suns have agreed to non-guaranteed deals with eight-year NBA veteran Earl Barron and undrafted rookie Casey Prather that will allow the pair to join the team for camp, reports Paul Coro of the Arizona Republic. They’re almost certainly on minimum-salary arrangements in spite of Phoenix’s ample cap flexibility.

The deal is Barron’s first in the NBA after he signed with the Knicks for the final game of the regular season and the playoffs in 2013. He didn’t see any postseason action that year, appearing in just that lone regular season game, and while the Knicks were reportedly split on bringing him back for last year’s camp, they decided against it, and he spent the season playing in China and Lebanon instead.

Prather made his first contact with the Suns through a predraft workout, though he spent summer league with the Hawks. The small forward from Florida entered the draft as the 83rd-best prospect in Jonathan Givony’s DraftExpress rankings and No. 95 on Chad Ford’s ESPN.com board after a breakout senior season with the Gators. His 13.8 points in 27.9 minutes per game represented the first double-digit scoring average of his college career.

Barron and Prather will join 13 other Suns, all of whom have guaranteed deals, as our roster counts show. That doesn’t include Eric Bledsoe or second-round pick Alec Brown, though the Suns could make room for them if they cut Barron, Prather or both before opening night.

Suns, Jamil Wilson Reach Deal

September 27th, 2014 at 11:17am CST by Eddie Scarito

SATURDAY, 11:17am: The signing is official, the Suns announced via a press release.

WEDNESDAY, 9:25pm: The Suns have reached agreement with Jamil Wilson, Shams Charania of RealGM reports (Twitter link). The exact length and terms of the deal are unknown for the Relativity Sports client who is represented by Steve McCaskill. Odds are this is a minimum salary camp deal, with little-to-no salary guaranteed, but that’s just my speculation.

The 6’7″ Wilson went undrafted this year out of Marquette despite being projected as a possible late second-round pick by some. His college numbers, which include his freshman season at Oregon, are 8.5 PPG, 4.6 RPG, and 1.6 APG. His college shooting statistics are .447/.336/.708.

This signing brings Phoenix’s preseason roster count to 18 players. Out of those 18, 14 players have fully-guaranteed deals on the books. Wilson is a longhshot to make the team, and will compete with Marcus Morris, T.J. Warren, and P.J. Tucker for minutes.

Reaction To/Fallout From Eric Bledsoe Deal

September 25th, 2014 at 9:59pm CST by Eddie Scarito

Eric Bledsoe‘s contract situation was finally resolved yesterday when the Suns and the point guard agreed to a five-year, $70MM contract extension. The reactions from around the league are still pouring in and here is the latest news:

One of the major concerns about Bledsoe would be how he would recover from his meniscus injury, but GM Ryan McDonough didn’t seem all that concerned, writes Paul Coro of The Arizona Republic. McDonough said, “We would not have made this commitment in terms of years or money if we had significant concerns about Eric’s health. Nobody knows Eric’s medical history or where he’s at better than us.“
In the same article McDonough notes the process took longer than they had hoped, but added, “He [Bledsoe] said all the right things to Lon [Babby], Robert [Sarver] and I about how he wanted to be here and take the next step as a leader and be a part of the community.”
Bledsoe chimed in on the deal in the team’s official statement, saying, “Lon, Ryan and the Suns have shown confidence in me, and I am looking to take that responsibility and help our team get better from last year and position ourselves to win an NBA championship. It’s why I came back to Phoenix. All summer, I knew that I really would be most comfortable coming back to Phoenix because of the great fans, my Suns teammates and our coaches. I am very happy it was able to work out this way.”
Bledsoe’s deal is an “emphatic win” for him and also a boon for extension-eligible point guards Reggie Jackson, Ricky Rubio and Kemba Walker, but it’s a gamble worth taking for Phoenix, Grantland’s Zach Lowe believes.
With the market seemingly barren for Bledsoe this late in the summer, Phoenix blinked first during the negotiations, writes Tom Ziller of SB Nation.
The Suns scored a big victory in locking up Bledsoe for the next five seasons, Dan Bickley of the Arizona Republic writes.

Chuck Myron contributed to this post.

Suns Plan Long-Term Deal For Goran Dragic

September 25th, 2014 at 9:58am CST by Chuck Myron

One member of Phoenix’s dynamic backcourt has committed to remain for the foreseeable future, with Eric Bledsoe having re-signed for five years and $70MM, and Suns GM Ryan McDonough wants to make sure that’s the case for Goran Dragic, too. McDonough expressed a desire to do what it takes to keep the Slovenian guard, who has said he plans to decline his $7.5MM player option for 2015/16 and hit free agency next summer, as Paul Coro of the Arizona Republic reports.

“We don’t have many long-term commitments,” McDonough said. “We have every intention of keeping Goran in a Suns uniform as long as possible. We know he loves Phoenix. There’s plenty of money for Goran next year or when it comes up. We fully anticipate taking care of him.”

The Suns only have about $31MM tied up for 2015/16, not counting Dragic’s player option, more than $7MM in rookie scale team options for Alex Len, Miles Plumlee and Archie Goodwin, and potential extensions for Markieff Morris and Marcus Morris. That should still leave plenty of room for a lucrative new deal with Dragic, though Phoenix has his Bird rights, as thus the power to exceed the cap to re-sign him, if the Suns deem it necessary.

Dragic caught the eye of many teams around the league last season as he won the NBA’s Most Improved Player award in a year in which he scored 20.3 points per game after never having averaged as many as 15 PPG. The Pacers appeared to have interest in trading for him early this summer, and the Rockets have reportedly been considering a push to sign him in free agency next summer. The Lakers were apparently among the teams likely to make a play for both Bledsoe and Dragic in the hopes that the Suns would be unable to re-sign the two of them if they were to hit unrestricted agency at the same time in 2015, but Bledsoe’s long-term deal undermines any such plans. The Suns are nearing a deal with Zoran Dragic, Goran’s younger brother, and that would presumably give Phoenix another edge in keeping the older Dragic around.

Eric Bledsoe Re-Signs With Suns

September 24th, 2014 at 10:48pm CST by Eddie Scarito

10:48pm: The deal is official, the team has announced.

10:45pm: Bledsoe’s first-year salary starts at $13MM and the deal has annual raises of $500K, Paul Coro of the Arizona Republic tweets. Coro also adds that the agreement contains no trade kickers or early termination options, and confirms the earlier information that there are no player or team options.

4:49pm: The Suns and Eric Bledsoe have come to terms on a five-year, $70MM deal, Brian Windhorst of ESPN.com reports (Twitter link). The deal is fully-guaranteed and contains no options, Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports notes. The max that the Suns could have given Bledsoe over five seasons is $84,789,500, so it appears he’s taking significantly less than that, given the reported $70MM figure. Still, it’s more total money than the $62,965,420 over four years that Bledsoe could have received in an offer sheet from another team, so Bledsoe can claim that victory.

This will conclude a Summer-long impasse that began when Bledsoe balked at Phoenix’s initial four-year, $48MM offer, and relayed his unwillingness to re-sign for anything less than superstar money. The former first-rounder out of Kentucky had expressed a willingness to sign the Suns’ $3.7MM qualifying offer rather than settle on a contract below the max. This would have been a dangerous gamble by the Rich Paul client given that he is coming off of a serious knee injury that limited him to 43 games last season.

Bledsoe reportedly hasn’t been in Phoenix since the season ended in April, and team management had relayed that there had not been much direct communication between the player and the team since then. There were concerns that the relationship between the two parties had fractured and the point guard’s departure after this season would be almost assured. This signing puts those concerns to bed, but now Bledsoe has to live up to the figures he will be paid.

The 24-year old was enjoying a breakout season before injuring his meniscus, averaging 17.7 PPG, 4.7 RPG, and 5.5 APG. His slash line was .477/.357/.772. But this was such a small sample size that it’s difficult to predict what Phoenix can expect out of Bledsoe the next five years seeing as his previous best was 8.5 PPG for the Clippers during the 2012/13 season when he was Chris Paul‘s backup.

Teams were reluctant to sign Bledsoe to an offer sheet, especially at max money. As the Summer wore on and most teams had used most if not all of their available cap space, the player’s options seemed extremely limited, which makes this signing a coup for Bledsoe’s camp. The Timberwolves were the only team to go on record as being willing to offer Bledsoe max money in a sign-and-trade deal, though Phoenix indicated they had no interest in letting Bledsoe go for anything less than a star player. With Kevin Love already departed for Cleveland, this left the Wolves with little to offer the Suns outside newly acquired Andrew Wiggins, who wouldn’t have made much sense for Minnesota to deal after their marketing campaign for the upcoming season centered around the No. 1 overall pick’s presence on the roster.

The hope in Phoenix is that Bledsoe’s performance wasn’t a contract-year fluke, and that he will regain his pre-injury form that made the starting backcourt of he and Goran Dragic so explosive. Phoenix is stacked in the backcourt with Bledsoe, Dragic, the recently signed Isaiah Thomas, and first-round draftee Tyler Ennis, so Bledsoe’s minutes and production may decline as a result.

Western Notes: Thunder, Clippers, Bledsoe

September 24th, 2014 at 8:31pm CST by Eddie Scarito

The Thunder revealed that the name for their new D-League team will be the Oklahoma City Blue in a press release they issued earlier today. As for why that name was chosen, Brian Byrnes, the Thunder’s senior vice president of Sales and Marketing said, “Blue is one of our primary Thunder colors, but it has become more than just a color for us. It has come to represent the passion, loyalty and unity of our fans and our community in their support for our team. Our players wear it proudly on their uniforms, our fans sport Thunder blue shirts, Thunder blue flags fly across Oklahoma and our statewide Blue Alliance fan groups show their connection to our team and what it stands for.”

Here’s more from out west:

Clippers president and head coach Doc Rivers praised the offseason addition of Spencer Hawes, and said the center turned down larger offers to come to Los Angeles, Dan Woike of the Orange County Register writes. Rivers said, “I thought he was a great fit. Because of salary and where we’re at, I didn’t think we could get him.” The coach also noted in the article that the franchise getting to the point where players will take less money to play there is a positive sign.
Clippers owner Steve Ballmer hopes to have a team president who will handle day-to-day operations of the team in place soon, Ben Bolch of the Los Angeles Times reports (Twitter link).
Ballmer also announced that Eric Miller, former owner Donald Sterling’s son-in-law, has left his position as director of basketball administration, Dan Woike of the Orange County Register tweets.
The Suns are reportedly set to re-sign Eric Bledsoe to a five-year, $70MM extension, and Steve Kyler and Alex Kennedy of Basketball Insiders debate whether it was a mistake on Phoenix’s part.
Shareef Abdur-Rahim is no longer with the Kings, Jason Jones of the Sacramento Bee reports. Abdur-Rahim was the director of player personnel and GM of of the Reno Bighorns, the Kings’ NBA D-League team.

Bledsoe, Suns Renew Talks

September 24th, 2014 at 3:30pm CST by Cray Allred

WEDNESDAY, 3:30pm: Both Bledsoe and his agent, Rich Paul, traveled to Phoenix today to meet with Suns management to discuss a new deal, Wojnarowski reports (Twitter links). No agreement is in place, but significant progress has been made according to Wojnarowski’s sources.

TUESDAY,10:00pm: In his full story, Wojnarowski adds that tomorrow’s round of negotiations are expected to be crucial in determining whether the two sides can come to terms on a contract before training camp. Phoenix has only increased their offer to approximately $50MM, a $500K difference in annual salary and still well below the max, according to Wojnarowski’s sources.

9:01pm: The Suns and Eric Bledsoe have made progress in the last few days on a new contract, Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports tweets. The two sides had been in a stalemate since Bledsoe balked at Phoenix’s initial four-year, $48MM offer. The Yahoo! scribe says a deal is not imminent, but that serious progress is being made.

Bledsoe had signaled a willingness to sign the Suns’ qualifying offer rather than settle on a contract below the max. The Rich Paul client had been seeking sign-and-trade opportunities with other teams, but Phoenix hasn’t been eager to facilitate any such move according to the latest reports. The most notable suitor was Minnesota, as the Wolves were reportedly willing to give the point guard a maximum salary had Phoenix been open to dealing for anyone on their roster.

While Bledsoe’s camp has been unwilling to budge, the Suns have been open to upping their offer. If the explosive point guard signs for less than a virtual max contract, however, Phoenix will have gotten the better end of the market this summer. While Chandler Parsons (near max) and Gordon Hayward (full max) were signed to lucrative offer sheets as restricted free agents, Phoenix effectively spooked other teams from inking Bledsoe to the same by insisting they would match any such offer. It’s clear that at least one team would have valued Bledsoe at the max on the open market, but Phoenix is attempting to use the mechanics of restricted free agency to secure him for the long term for substantially less.

Zoran Dragic, Suns Nearing Deal

September 24th, 2014 at 9:32am CST by Cray Allred

9:32am: Dragic’s agents have informed the Spanish team that the Suns have a two-year offer on the table and that the guard will buy out his contract, freeing him to head to Phoenix, Sportando’s Emiliano Carchia reports (Twitter link).

THURSDAY, 9:11am: Dragic has told Unicaja Malaga that the Suns have made him an offer, Guerra tweets.

TUESDAY, 7:55am: There’s no October 5th deadline in Dragic’s contract with Unicaja Malaga, so he can leave the team to come to the NBA after that date should he choose to do so, reports Rafael M. Guerra of La Opinión de Málaga (translation via Sportando’s Emiliano Carchia). Goran Dragic would likely pick up part of the tab for the buyout necessary to bring his brother to the Suns, Guerra adds.

SUNDAY, 1:30pm: The Suns have emerged as the frontrunners to sign Dragic, Marc Stein of ESPN.com reports (Twitter links). The guard is likely to land a two year deal, notes Stein.

SATURDAY, 9:21 pm: Zoran Dragic is in advanced discussions with Unicaja Malaga to leave the team and come to the NBA, tweets Shams Charania of RealGM. The Slovenian point guard has a buyout clause of $1.1MM to leave the Euroleague team, so presumably he has an agreement in place with an NBA squad. It’s possible that the team could have relinquished its buyout requirement, or that Dragic is paying for it himself, but it is much more likely that an NBA team is set to foot the bill.

The Suns, Pacers, and Kings have been named as the most aggressive suitors for the younger brother of Goran Dragic, although the Cavs, Heat, Magic, Spurs, Mavs, and Rockets have also registered interest. If Phoenix has struck a deal with the 25-year-old, it could have massive ripple effects around the league. The Suns are at a negotiating standoff with restricted free agent Eric Bledsoe, and adding another Dragic to the already-stacked Phoenix backcourt could signal their willingness to move on from Bledsoe, who Minnesota would bring on with a max contract if they had the room to do so.

Momentum has been building all summer for the younger Dragic, who has until October 5th to exercise the escape clause before becoming locked into another season overseas. At one point, it seemed like a long shot that the point guard would be coming stateside before next season, but he repeatedly stated his desire to find his way to the NBA amid a strong performance in the FIBA tournament spotlight. The hefty buyout payment, which exceeds the $600K max to not count against the cap, could mean that at least one team believes in him as a player who can contribute immediately. If Dragic fetches more than the minimum from a team willing to invest in his services, the Cavs, Heat, and Mavs are unlikely candidates to have snagged him.

And-Ones: Cap, Walker, Bledsoe, Rubio, Wiggins

September 23rd, 2014 at 11:43am CST by Chuck Myron

Some teams think the salary cap will jump above $70MM for next season, as Grantland’s Zach Lowe reports, though Lowe’s dispatch from a week ago indicated that the league has told clubs not to get carried away with their projections for the time being. Clarity on the matter will be important, especially for clubs with players up for extensions to their rookie-scale contracts before the October 31st deadline. Lowe’s latest piece centers on one such case, as the Hornets face a decision about whether to extend Kemba Walker, whom rival executives often say isn’t a “championship point guard,” according to Lowe. We’ll pass along another tidbit from the Grantland scribe amid the latest from around the league:

The Suns haven’t shown much interest in sign-and-trades involving Eric Bledsoe, Lowe hears, advancing Friday’s report from Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports that threw cold water on the idea that Bledsoe would end up with the Wolves.
The Wolves and Ricky Rubio‘s camp remain in a stalemate in extension negotiations in part because agents Dan Fegan and Jarinn Akana know that the Knicks and Lakers can open cap space next summer, writes Darren Wolfson of 1500 ESPN Twin Cities (Twitter links).
Rumors as late as the eve of the draft suggested that the Cavs were conflicted about whom to take No. 1 overall, but coach David Blatt insists the team had settled on Andrew Wiggins long before making him the top pick, as Blatt tells Terry Pluto of the Plain Dealer. Cleveland didn’t hold on to Wiggins for long, of course, shipping him to the Wolves in the Kevin Love trade.
Nazr Mohammed‘s contract with the Bulls is non-guaranteed for the minimum salary and covers just one season, reports Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders (Twitter link).
Clippers signee Jared Cunningham rejected a deal from Serbia’s KK Partizan to instead try his hand at making the opening-night roster in L.A. on his non-guaranteed contract, tweets David Pick of Eurobasket.com.