7:51pm: Shams Charania of RealGM.com provides some additional details, noting that Suns coach Jeff Hornacek envisions Gortat as a mentor for Len. He also passes along a comment from Zucker that seems to back up my suspicion that Gortat could be moved later on.
"It’s clear they are in a rebuild and they drafted a center, so [a trade] would make sense, but for now they want to hold onto him," Zucker said. "As with everything in the league, it should be stated: As of today."
7:30pm: New Suns GM Ryan McDonough said on radio Friday that Marcin Gortat will begin the 2013/14 season as the starting center in Phoenix, ruling out the possibility that team's decision to draft center Alex Len fifth overall Thursday would lead to a trade of Gortat. McDonough told the Burns and Gambo show on Arizona Sports 620 that the team is not looking to move the 29-year-old Gortat, as Dave Dulberg of ArizonaSports.com notes.
The Blazers have been interested in Gortat, according to a recent report, and he seemed to spend much of the past season on the trading block. Gortat is set to make about $7.7MM in the final season of his contract in 2013/14, and while McDonough said he isn't sure about the veteran's long-term future with the club, he seemed to hint that they'll consider an extension this summer.
"We'll see after July 1 what he and his agent have in mind," McDonough said. "I haven't had any discussions about (his long-term future) yet, but we do have him under contract for another year."
The Guy Zucker client turned down a multiyear extension offer from the Suns last summer, though that was when former GM Lance Blanks was still around. And unlike in 2012, when Gortat could only have added two more seasons to his contract, any extension he signs this summer could run through 2017.
While McDonough said Gortat would be with the Suns at the start of this coming season, he didn't say that Gortat would end next season with the team. McDonough made mention of Len's foot injury in discussing Gortat, so perhaps the GM will become more open to the idea of trading Gortat once Len becomes healthy, though that's just my speculation.