The LA Lakers may target Eric Bledsoe and Goran Dragic next summer in free agency, as both players potentially could hit the market and Los Angeles could explore that over trying to pull a Rajon Rondo trade or signing names like Greg Monroe, Marc Gasol or LaMarcus Aldridge, as those two players could be interested in playing together and LA would have the money to send and could afford to sign them.
According to Pro Basketball Talk, the Lakers may target Bledsoe and Dragic next summer, as both potentially could be unrestricted free agents at the same time. Marc stein from ESPN.com writes that Bledsoe could take a one year qualifying offer and end up on the free agent market next summer, while Dragic is set to be a free agent as well and he is coming off of a strong year and should command a nice salary.
One reason the Suns and Bledsoe have been at odds likely is because Phoenix knows they also will have to pay Dragic if they want to keep him, so they may not be able to keep both players. Phoenix has offered Bledsoe four years and he is looking for the max and five years and that has put the two sides at odds. Right now the two sides are also looking for sign and trade options, but it's more likely that a team hopes for Bledsoe to sign the one year deal and then hit the market, which is what the Lakers would be thrilled about.
Bledsoe would be in on a $3.7 million deal and Dragic now comes in on a $7 million deal before hitting the market and the two players could end up cashing in. Bledsoe and Dragic have said they enjoy playing together and the Lakers would have the cap space to make a move. The team has been rumored to be interested in Greg Monroe if he does the same thing, while Rajon Rondo is also set to hit the market and likely will come up in trade rumors. The Suns likely don't want Bledsoe in on the qualifying offer, because that means they may end up losing him.
Bledsoe and Phoenix have not been able to come to an agreement yet on a contract and because the Suns want to match any offer for Bledsoe, no other team has truly tried to sign him. According to Pro Basketball Talk, Bledsoe and the Suns have each started to look at trade options out there, but so far there has not been any major movement on a deal. Bledsoe has dealt with injury issues over the past couple years and the Suns may be reluctant to sign him to the max because of that.
The Suns were an early surprise team interested in the Kevin Love trade and at the 11th hour they reportedly tried to make a deal with Minnesota involving Bledsoe. Obviously that deal did not go down, but the Suns have explored trade options for Bledsoe. The Lakers reportedly thought about pulling one off, but the team opted to fill out their bench, as they knew that if they offered Bledsoe a deal, the Suns would likely match.
