- John Wall understands the predicament his former Kentucky teammate, Eric Bledsoe, is in with the Suns, Chase Hughes of NBC Sports Washington writes. “Eric’s situation was that they had some great pieces and some great teams. [Markieff Morris] was with him over there. They had a season where they almost made the playoffs with 48 wins and they didn’t make it.” Wall said. “He’s going into his eighth year and he hasn’t made the playoffs [since 2013]. The team is getting younger and younger and he wants to get out of there and get to a team where he can make the playoffs.”
- After breaking into the Suns rotation and carving out a role as the team’s starting point guard, 27-year-old rookie Mike James could see his two-way contract converted into a standard deal, Benny Nadeau of Basketball Insiders writes. The two-way contract that he signed over the offseason, of course, limits James’ NBA service to 45 days.
- Don’t expect 17-year veteran Tyson Chandler to demand a trade out of Phoenix, Michael Lee of The Vertical writes in an excellent feature. The 35-year-old Suns big man may be on a different timeline than the rest of the franchise but doesn’t plan on forcing his way out of town. He spoke about teammate Eric Bledsoe who, well, has. “I’m not surprised about that. I kind of saw that stuff coming,” Chandler said. “He’s in a different place than I’m in. He’s in the prime of his career. Everything that happened last season and then rolling over into the summer, of course, I felt like it could’ve been handled differently. But I understand his stance and I understand it’s his career. He’s got to eat. He ultimately has to make his own decisions, as a man.”
After trade rumors surrounding Eric Bledsoe and Reggie Jackson swirled on Thursday, Pistons head coach and president of basketball operations Stan Van Gundy once again assured his starting point guard that no deal is in the works, as Rod Beard of The Detroit News details.
“It was crazy yesterday,” Van Gundy said on Friday. “I left practice yesterday and there’s a rumor out on Reggie and Bledsoe so I had to get home and call Reggie and say we’re not trading you for Bledsoe. I don’t usually address all of them, but it’s early in the (season). You can’t address all of them at the trade deadline, but I felt the need to address this.”
Van Gundy acknowledged that Pistons general manager Jeff Bower is active when it comes to reaching out about trade possibilities and doing his due diligence. However, SVG confirmed that a rumored deal involving the Pistons, Suns, and Pelicans – described yesterday as “dead’ – doesn’t have legs. The hypothetical three-team swap would have seen the Pistons give up Jackson and a first-round pick in exchange for Bledsoe.
For the Pistons, it’s a situation eerily reminiscent of one that took place last January. At that time, reports linked the Pistons and Jackson to a possible Ricky Rubio trade, and Van Gundy publicly denied that such a deal would happen. He was right about that, and there’s no reason to believe he’s misleading reporters and fans about the possibility of a Bledsoe deal either.
Still, the fact that Van Gundy keeps having to come out and shoot down reports involving Jackson suggests that the Pistons continue to explore possible point guard deals, even with the 27-year-old off to a strong start this season. For his part, Jackson says he’s not worried about his name popping up in trade rumors once again.
“I don’t pay attention and really don’t care (about rumors),” Jackson said. “I’m still in Detroit and still here to compete and make my team the best it can be. If something else happens, it happens. That’s not something I’m concerned about.”
6:28pm: It turns out the third team involved in the Bledsoe/Jackson trade discussion was New Orleans. Jake Fischer of Sports Illustrated writes that the Suns would have landed Detroit’s 2019 first-round pick, New Orleans’ 2018 first-round pick, Alexis Ajinca, and Omer Asik. Jackson would have gone to the Pelicans in that scenario. The talks are now “dead,” the report states.
2:25pm: According to Michael Scotto of Basketball Insiders, the Pistons offered the Suns a package including Jackson and a first-round pick for Bledsoe.
12:06pm: If they make a deal with the Pistons, the Suns would prefer to get a third team involved to take Jackson, tweets Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN.
It makes sense that the rebuilding Suns wouldn’t want to absorb Jackson’s contract, which runs through 2019/20, but involving a third or fourth team typically makes trades more difficult to complete, so we’ll see if this goes anywhere.
11:39am: The Pistons should be added to the list of teams that have exhibited interest in disgruntled Suns point guard Eric Bledsoe, league sources tell Marc Stein of The New York Times (Twitter link). However, Stein cautions (via Twitter) that for a deal to appeal to Phoenix, the Pistons would have to attach additional pieces to Reggie Jackson.
Shortly after Bledsoe publicly expressed his dissatisfaction with his situation in Phoenix a week and a half ago, the Suns sent him home and began aggressively seeking a trade. At that point, it seemed as if the Suns may resolve the situation quickly, but GM Ryan McDonough said this week that there’s no timetable for a Bledsoe deal, suggesting the team isn’t rushing to get something done.
Reports last week indicated that the Nuggets and Bucks might be the most likely landing spots for Bledsoe, but Jamal Murray and Emmanuel Mudiay have played well lately for Denver, and Malcolm Brogdon – whom the Suns would reportedly target – is off to a good start in Milwaukee. As such, the Suns may be looking to engage other teams in trade discussions.
The Pistons would be an interesting trade partner. It’s worth noting that the Suns were said to have expressed “strong” interest in Andre Drummond back in June. Jake Fischer of SI.com, who initially reported Phoenix’s interest in Drummond, tweeted today that Bledsoe’s name was part of those discussions as well.
For what it’s worth, Detroit has been linked to multiple point guard trade candidates over the course of the year, including Kyrie Irving in August and Ricky Rubio back in January. Those rumors never led to anything real, so it’s possible Stan Van Gundy and the Pistons are just doing their due diligence again here. However, the fact that they’ve kicked the tires on so many other point guards may also suggest they’re open to moving on from Jackson.
After enjoying a career year in 2015/16, Jackson struggled through an injury-plagued 2016/17 campaign. He’s off to a good start this season, averaging 16.4 PPG and 6.0 APG through eight games.
- Contrary to a Washington Post report that suggested Suns owner Robert Sarver was looking to sell the franchise, the executive has “zero interest” in cashing out, Scott Bordow of The Arizona Republic writes. Sarver bought the team for $401MM in 2004 and it’s now, per Forbes, valued north of $1B.
Having turned down Jahlil Okafor‘s request for a buyout, the Sixers remain focused on finding a trade involving the third-year big man, reports Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN.
According to Wojnarowski, Sixers president of basketball operations Bryan Colangelo is determined to land some sort of “asset” in an Okafor deal. However, a trade may ultimately revolve around future second-round picks in exchange for Okafor, league sources tell Wojnarowski.
It has been a busy week on the Okafor front. We heard last Friday that the 76ers are working Okafor’s camp to try to find a workable trade, but the club wasn’t able to find a deal before the rookie scale option deadline on Tuesday. Philadelphia declined Okafor’s option for 2018/19, which prompted him to ask for a buyout, as he confirmed on Wednesday. The former third overall pick further expressed his frustration with his current situation in a conversation with reporters.
The Celtics have been mentioned as a possible destination for Okafor, but a few other teams have displayed interest in the 21-year-old as a “reclamation project,” per Wojnarowski. Woj’s report suggests that an Eric Bledsoe trade may help create the “moving parts around the league” necessary to pave the way for an Okafor deal. While it’s not clear if the Suns have interest in Okafor, Woj does note that they’re monitoring the situation in Philadelphia.
With the Suns in Brooklyn to face the Nets tonight, Eric Bledsoe will miss his fourth straight game, and he may end up sitting out many more. According to Scott Bordow of The Arizona Republic, Suns GM Ryan McDonough said this week that there’s no timetable for a Bledsoe trade, suggesting the team isn’t rushing to get anything done.
“We are open to doing a deal whenever the best offer presents itself,” McDonough said. “Any other comments or thoughts from me would be pure speculation at this point.”
The 2017/18 regular season is only two weeks old, so there are unlikely to be any teams desperate enough to improve their existing offers for Bledsoe at this point. Additionally, as Bordow notes, some potential trade partners may be able to make more competitive offers when trade restrictions lift on certain players on December 15.
Of course, the two teams most frequently mentioned as potential landing spots for Bledsoe are Denver and Milwaukee, and neither the Nuggets nor the Bucks were very active in free agency over the offseason, so they’re not limited by many trade restrictions at this point.
In any case, since the Suns have no real playoff aspirations this season, there’s not much downside in being patient and hoping that the offers for Bledsoe improve. Phoenix will have to continue paying its disgruntled point guard while he remains away from the club, but team salary is currently below the required floor anyway, so paying Bledsoe isn’t having a real impact on the Suns’ bottom line.
Suns center Alex Len didn’t receive an offer sheet as a restricted free agent this summer but he’s pumping up his value during the early going, according to Scott Bordow of The Arizona Republic. Len is averaging 10.2 PPG and 8.4 RPG and one scout told Bordow that Len could receive a four-year deal worth up to $15MM per season if he continues his strong play. Len signed his qualifying offer of $4.2MM in late September after his unsuccessful foray into restricted free agency.
The Knicks consider Frank Ntilikina and Willy Hernangomez part of their future and don’t plan to include either in a trade for Suns guard Eric Bledsoe, relays Marc Berman of The New York Post. Team president Steve Mills conveyed those sentiments today in a meeting with reporters in Cleveland, effectively quashing speculation that the Knicks might be involved in the chase for Bledsoe.
Ntilikina has been limited by injuries and Hernangomez has seen his playing time cut because of a logjam at center, but Mills said both are considered valuable components going forward. He added that coach Jeff Hornacek approached this season the right way by making Hernangomez work for his playing time. “This is part of Willy’s development,’’ Mills said. “He’s a guy who’s going to be with us [at least] the next three years and we have a lot of time to work with him, and he’s going to be part of who we are.”
There’s more from Mills’ session with the media:
- Even though the Knicks are off to a 1-3 start following a winless preseason, no thought has been given to a coaching change. Mills pledged that “Jeff, [GM] Scott [Perry] and I are in this together,” although he stopped short of guaranteeing that Hornacek will be safe for the entire season. “We told him to focus on getting the team better and finding ways to reduce the turnovers and make sure we’re improving defensively,” Mills said of a recent meeting with Hornacek. “That’s what our goal was. We didn’t focus on the record. Our focus is how we’re improving over the course of the season. If we do all the things from a defensive standpoint, wins will come out of that. I do believe it’s getting better.”
- The organization is stressing stability in the wake of the chaotic reign of former team president Phil Jackson, who was fired over the offseason. Mills doesn’t believe it would be healthy to make another significant move so soon. “We need to make sure we’re doing as a team and doing the things we said we were going to do over the summer,” he said. “As long as we’re doing those things, we’ll continue to build this group. Stability is important for this group. We haven’t had a lot of it here.”
- Despite the injuries, the organization has been impressed by Ntilikina, the eighth selection in this year’s draft. “He’s not a flashy player but does the right things, plays solid defensively, willing to challenge guys right from the start,” Mills said. “The way he played, with the style he played, was what we saw when we scouted him. … “We’re committed to him and his development. What we’re trying to do with this team, it centers around guys like Frank, KP, draft picks moving forward.”
- The Knicks will have to make a roster move next month when Joakim Noah‘s suspension expires. They signed two veteran point guards over the offseason in Ramon Sessions and Jarrett Jack, and Mills said the team would like to keep both. “We always knew we needed veterans to help support Frank,’’ he explained. “Was that going to be Ramon as starter? Jarrett as starter? They both bring different things to the table. Jarrett did a great job of calming things down. Ramon brings different things to the table. They both mentor Frank in different ways. We feel we need guys like that to bring Frank along.’’