The Phoenix Suns have shopped an Eric Bledsoe trade this offseason and the team could continue pushing for a deal with teams like the LA Lakers, NY Knicks, Boston Celtics and Houston Rockets, as the team reportedly wants to re-sign Brandon Knight as a free agent this summer and keeping Bledsoe could make for a crowded backcourt.
The Suns reportedly offered the Knicks a deal for Bledsoe that would have included their first round pick for the number four overall pick, but the Knicks opted to take Kristaps Porzingis. According to Marc Stein at ESPN.com, there is "a growing feeling around the league" that Phoenix will continue pushing a trade with Bledsoe. Stein added that if the team signs Knight, it's likely they will continue to "seriously explore" a deal with Bledsoe.
Bledsoe comes in after signing a five year deal worth $70 million last year and that came after he held back as a restricted free agent during the summer. The team brought in Isaiah Thomas and also had Goran Dragic to give the Suns a three headed guard monster, but that did not work out as expected. The team ended up trading Dragic and Thomas and they brought in Knight in a deal with the Bucks. General manager Ryan McDonough felt that he got the best player in the Knight deal and now he may try and keep him over Bledsoe.
Bledsoe has some trade value, as he had the highest PER of anyone on the Suns last season and averaged 17 points with six assists per game. The team did strong work with Bledsoe and Dragic playing together, but adding Thomas was too much and that led to the trades. The team may keep Bledsoe if they don't get a good enough deal, but keeping two points guards on big contracts is tough to do.
The team plans on trying to keep Knight, as the Racine Journal Times reports that the Suns are looking to offer Knight a "lucrative long term deal" that could be around $70 million. Knight is going to be a restricted free agent like Bledsoe was last summer and Gery Woelfel reports that "an NBA official" said that Knight will sign a deal worth $70 million over for five years with the Suns. Pro Basketball Talk writes that while signing Knight and keeping Bledsoe is risky, both will be trade candidates in the future when the salary cap goes up, as they could be cheaper than signing a notable player when the numbers go up.
Knight averaged 17 points and four assists per game last season while playing for the Bucks and the suns and now Phoenix could look at making some major moves. Sean Deveney at the Sporting News wrote that the team offered the Bledsoe deal to the Knicks and that the team would continue shopping Bledsoe if he wasn't traded at the draft. The Lakers, Knicks and Rockets all have issues at point guard and could consider a deal with Bledsoe. Phoenix reportedly wants to make a run at Kevin Love and if the team signs Knight, moving Bledsoe could help free up enough space to try and woo the big man from Cleveland.
