Eric Bledsoe Rumors | Hoops Rumors

And-Ones: Barea, Bledsoe, Bonner, Beasley

August 25th, 2014 at 2:42pm CST by Chuck Myron

The Cavs are probably better off for having lost LeBron James in 2010 than they would be if he had never gone to Miami since it gave them the chance to accumulate assets through rebuilding, SB Nation’s Tom Ziller argues. That helps explain why the Sixers, one of the other teams in the Kevin Love deal, are so aggressively stripping their roster, Ziller suggests. Still, Cleveland was remarkably lucky in the lottery, nabbing three No. 1 overall picks in four years, so it’s tough to say that another team can easily mimic the path of the Cavs. Here’s more from around the league:

The only players on the Wolves who are off-limits for a trade are the ones who just came aboard in the Love deal, as Jerry Zgoda of the Star Tribune writes within a chat with readers. J.J. Barea remains on the block after the Wolves failed to convince the Sixers to take him on in the Love trade, Zgoda also writes.
The Wolves like Eric Bledsoe quite a bit, but it’s tough to see a scenario in which they’d sign-and-trade for the Suns restricted free agent, tweets Darren Wolfson of 1500 ESPN Twin Cities. Phoenix reportedly made a last-ditch effort at a Bledsoe-for-Love swap, but Minnesota rejected that idea.
Backcourt mate Goran Dragic is hopeful that Bledsoe will be back with the Suns next season, as he tells Erildas Budraitis of RealGM.
Matt Bonner says there were several teams that inquired about him during his free agency this summer, but he let all of them know that he was waiting to see about a deal with the Spurs first, as he tells Dan McCarney of the San Antonio Express-News. Bonner re-signed with the Spurs last month to a one-year deal for the minimum.
The Heat let Michael Beasley know they wouldn’t rule out re-signing him, but that’s standard practice for the team, which hasn’t made any offer to the forward, according to Barry Jackson of the Miami Herald. The Heat isn’t high on bringing him back for several reasons, Jackson hears.

Latest On Rajon Rondo

August 24th, 2014 at 5:08pm CST by Chuck Myron

Now that the Wolves have officially traded Kevin Love, Rajon Rondo seemingly looms as the next most likely superstar trade candidate. Still, the Celtics aren’t anxious to deal the point guard in part because they’re eager to see how he plays at the beginning of this season, when he’ll be more than a year and a half removed from tearing his right ACL, writes Gary Washburn of the Boston Globe. Rondo can become a free agent next summer.

The 28-year-old Rondo, like most star veterans in their primes, is unlikely to sign an extension, as Washburn notes, adding that Rondo would be especially reluctant to do so with the Kings. Sacramento was reportedly one of the teams most active in pursuing him at the deadline this past season and the Kings had talks with the Pistons earlier this summer about acquiring Josh Smith, a close friend of Rondo’s. Still, it’s unclear if the point guard would be more inclined to consider a long-term future with the Kings were they to trade for his former Oak Hill Academy teammate.

The Celtics hold Eric Bledsoe in high regard, Washburn also writes, speculating that Bledsoe might end up as Rondo’s replacement in Boston. Bledsoe’s camp and the Suns, who employ former Celtics executive Ryan McDonough as GM, appear to have stalemated in talks about a new deal, and Phoenix has begun to examine sign-and-trade possibilities involving the restricted free agent. Bledsoe has the chance to hit unrestricted free agency next summer, but only if he takes take the unusual step of signing his qualifying offer, worth about $3.7MM, for this season.

Celtics president of basketball operations Danny Ainge has time and again batted down persistent Rondo trade rumors that date back to shortly after the Celtics traded Paul Pierce and Kevin Garnett to begin a rebuilding project. Three GMs told Steve Bulpett of the Boston Herald earlier this summer that Rondo’s trade value wouldn’t be all that high, anyway, perhaps suggesting that other teams share Boston’s desire to gauge his health. Bulpett also heard from rival execs who had reservations about Rondo’s consistency and personality. In any case, Rondo’s scoring and assists per game were down last season in the 30 games he played after returning from injury, and his 40.3% shooting was the worst of his career.

Suns Make Last-Minute Bledsoe-For-Love Offer

August 22nd, 2014 at 3:40pm CST by Chuck Myron

3:40pm: The Wolves like Bledsoe, but they’re not nearly high enough on him to drop out of their deal to send Love to the Cavs, Krawczynski tweets.

3:20pm: The Suns reached out to the Wolves today to ask about the possibility that they could sign-and-trade Eric Bledsoe for Kevin Love, but Minnesota’s agreement to deal Love to the Cavs remains in place, report Brian Windhorst and Ramona Shelburne of ESPN.com. The trade that would send Love to Cleveland can become official as early as Saturday. The Suns have been feeling out their options for a Bledsoe sign-and-trade as negotiations with the point guard’s camp have ground to a standstill, and they’ve spoken with teams other than the Wolves, too, according to Windhorst and Shelburne.

Bledsoe has reportedly been holding out for a max deal from the Suns, and he wouldn’t accept any less in a sign-and-trade, sources tell the ESPN.com scribes. The point guard is insisting that either he receives a max deal or he’ll sign his qualifying offer and hit unrestricted free agency next summer, Windhorst and Shelburne write. Signing the qualifying offer would mean Bledsoe would be playing this coming season on a salary worth slightly more than $3.7MM, a drastic discount from the max or even the terms of the four-year, $48MM offer the Suns reportedly put on the table last month.

The Suns were one of the early teams in the mix for Love, and as recently as July 1st, Jon Krawczynski of The Associated Press reported that Phoenix was expected to make a play for the power forward in case No. 1 target LeBron James went elsewhere. James agreed on July 11th to join the Cavs, but there’s been no further connection between the Suns and Love until today.

A dispatch from late last month indicated that the Suns had little interest in signing-and-trading Bledsoe, but that appears to have changed. Owner Robert Sarver said more recently that the team hadn’t heard directly from Bledsoe, a client of agent Rich Paul, in four months.

Suns Explore Eric Bledsoe Sign-And-Trade

August 22nd, 2014 at 2:01pm CST by Chuck Myron

The Suns have spoken with at least one team and fielded inquiries from others about the possibility of a sign-and-trade involving Eric Bledsoe, as Paul Coro of the Arizona Republic writes. That confirms a report from Jude LaCava of Fox 10 in Phoenix, who spoke earlier this week on FoxSports 910 radio in Phoenix (transcription via Dave King of Bright Side of the Sun).

Phoenix brass never ruled out a sign-and-trade from the beginning of negotiations with Bledsoe last month, according to Coro, but the team remains adamant that it prefers to retain the point guard, Coro adds. The Bucks and Jazz were linked to pursuits of Bledsoe shortly after free agency began, though it’s not clear if the Suns have spoken with either of those clubs.

Progress toward a long-term deal that would keep Bledsoe in Phoenix has seemingly stalled since a report more than a month ago indicated the Suns were offering a four-year, $48MM arrangement while the Rich Paul client held out for the max. Still, the team has remained open to further negotiations on its offer to Bledsoe, Coro says.

At least one rival GM has expressed hesitance about the idea of signing-and-trading for Bledsoe, who’s reportedly giving strong consideration to signing his qualifying offer so he can become an unrestricted free agent next summer. Still, inking the qualifying offer would mean a drastically discounted salary of little more than $3.7MM for the coming season, and it’s a move no restricted free agent of his caliber has ever taken.

Bledsoe and the Suns nonetheless appear at loggerheads, with Bledsoe having accused the Suns of “using the rules against me,” while owner Robert Sarver said recently that the team hasn’t heard directly from the 24-year-old in four months. Multiple reports have indicated that there’s a worsening relationship between Bledsoe and the Suns, though Sarver indicated that there are no hard feelings from the team’s side.

And-Ones: Bledsoe, Monroe, Raptors, Gray

August 21st, 2014 at 4:14pm CST by Chuck Myron

An NBA GM who spoke with Sean Deveney of The Sporting News said he’d be reluctant to sign-and-trade for either Eric Bledsoe or Greg Monroe in part because of the chance they’ll become available again next summer. The GM also suggested that the Suns and Pistons are overvaluing them, further diminishing the odds of a trade this offseason. While we continue to wait to see what happens to the two top restricted free agents, here’s more from around the league:

When Tim Leiweke spoke about two months ago to the board of the company that controls the Raptors, he declined to promise that he would stay on as CEO past next spring, as Elliotte Friedman writes for CBC.ca. That helped lead to today’s announcement of his planned departure, Friedman explains. The Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment board wanted to take control of the process and end speculation about Leiweke’s future, as Friedman details, adding that Leiweke’s contract carried an escape clause that gave him a way out.
Aaron Gray‘s contract with the Pistons is for two years, with a player option for the final season, as Eric Pincus of Basketball Insiders reveals (Twitter link).
Joel Embiid is tight with Luc Mbah a Moute, notes Ryan Wolstat of the Toronto Sun, and that helps explain why the Sixers appear poised to acquire Mbah a Moute as part of the Kevin Love trade (Twitter link). Mbah a Moute has served as a mentor for Embiid, a fellow native of Cameroon, as Jerry Zgoda of the Star Tribune points out (on Twitter).

Pacific Rumors: Bledsoe, Tucker, Curry, Ballmer

August 12th, 2014 at 10:15pm CST by Charlie Adams

Although Steph Curry is heading into just the second season of a four-year, $44MM contract he signed with the Warriors, the All-star guard wouldn’t totally rule out making a jump to play for the Hornets one day when he spoke on The Dan Patrick Show, as Diamond Leung of the Bay Area News Group transcribes.

“I’ve always had thoughts about playing at home, what it would be like,” said Curry, who was raised in Charlotte. “My dad played there for 10 years… I love the Bay Area and where we are as a team trying to win a championship, and that’s what it’s all about. Of course everybody dreams about or thinks about what it’s going to be like to play at home. Obviously if that opportunity comes along it’s a different discussion.”

Here’s more insight from Curry, as well as a look at the latest from out west in tonight’s roundup of the NBA’s Pacific Division:

The Warriors refused to include Klay Thompson in negotiations for Kevin Love, and Curry doesn’t doubt the team’s judgement, as Leung details in a separate piece. “I think they made the right choice,” said Curry of the team’s decision to retain his fellow Splash Brother, “Me and him in the backcourt and core that we have, we’ve got a legit shot at winning the championship next year, and I’m ready to take that on.”
Eric Bledsoe is strongly considering taking the Suns‘ qualifying offer so he can enter unrestricted free agency next summer, hears Jeff Zillgitt of USA Today, echoing a report from Chris Broussard of ESPN.com. Greg Monroe is set to sign the Pistons’ qualifying offer, and Zillgitt explains why it might be wise for Bledsoe to follow suit.
P.J. Tucker‘s three-game NBA suspension for a DUI he got in May will cost the big man $155,455 in salary, tweets Paul Coro of the Arizona Republic. Tucker re-signed with the Suns on a three year deal worth $16.5MM in July.
It’s too early to discount the Suns’ playoff chances, says Greg Esposito of Suns.com, who looks over Phoenix’s roster and concludes that offseason acquisitions Isaiah Thomas and Anthony Tolliver will help further improve a Suns team that surprised pundits around the league last season with a 48-34 campaign.
Sam Amick of USA Today examines the path that led Steve Ballmer to become the new Clippers owner. Ballmer, a lifelong basketball fan, has drawn positive feedback from Los Angeles players and coaches, as Amick passes along.

Latest On Greg Monroe, Eric Bledsoe

August 12th, 2014 at 10:07am CST by Chuck Myron

Greg Monroe is “definitely” willing to take his nearly $5.48MM qualifying offer from the Pistons should it come to that, a source tells Vincent Goodwill of The Detroit News. He’s pursued sign-and-trade opportunities rather than offer sheets from other teams, the source also says to Goodwill. A sign-and-trade that would be amenable to all parties would dismiss the possibility that the Pistons would match a deal he inks with another team, and signing the qualifying offer would take Monroe to unrestricted free agency next summer.

Still, accepting the qualifying offer would be a drastic move. It would represent a steep one-year discount from the eight-figure salaries, perhaps in excess of $13.5MM, that Monroe would receive if he were to ink a long-term deal with the Pistons. The maneuver might backfire should Monroe become injured, but the 24-year-old has missed just one of his last 310 games, as Goodwill points out. Only 17 players have signed qualifying offers since rookie scale contracts came into being in the mid-1990s, and the most high-profile player to have done so was probably Ben Gordon, who took Chicago’s qualifying offer in 2008.

Goodwill’s source disputed the notion that he’s uninterested in returning to the Pistons, saying that the big man likes coach/executive Stan Van Gundy while cautioning that Monroe remains skeptical of Van Gundy’s vision for the team. The state of the relationship between Monroe and Bledsoe doesn’t sound quite as dire as the situation involving the Suns and Eric Bledsoe, as multiple reports have indicated that the point guard is souring on Phoenix.

“Maybe that’s just posturing and negotiating,” Suns owner Sarver said of the reports, in an interview with Paul Coro of the Arizona Republic. “We haven’t heard from the guy in four months, so I couldn’t tell you. I do know that when he played here, he felt good about the organization, his coaching staff and his teammates at the end of the season. We had the same feelings toward him.”

The Suns reportedly extended a four-year, $48MM offer to Bledsoe, who appears to be holding out for the max, which would come to $84,789,500 over five seasons. Agent Rich Paul of Klutch Sports, who represents Bledsoe, is also the rep for Kevin Seraphin, the most recent player to have signed a qualifying offer, having done so last month. Seraphin was nonetheless in a drastically different position, since he couldn’t have commanded much more.

Bledsoe, like Monroe, stands to forfeit a significant amount of his earnings for the coming season if he inks his qualifying offer of nearly $3.727MM. The guard missed significant time with a meniscus tear, so injury is ostensibly a greater concern than it would be for Monroe. The qualifying offer would be a sacrifice for either Bledsoe or Monroe, and while either of them could make up the money over the life of a long-term max deal if he were to wind up with one in unrestricted free agency next summer, that sort of deal is certainly no guarantee.

Poll: Will Eric Bledsoe Re-Sign With The Suns?

August 9th, 2014 at 2:26pm CST by Charlie Adams

At one point, it looked like a near certainty that Eric Bledsoe would end up with a lucrative long-term deal that would keep him in Phoenix. Suns management insisted that the team would match any offers that came the restricted free agent’s way, but thus far, no team has come forward and presented the talented young guard with an offer sheet.

This late into the offseason, there aren’t many teams who could even afford to make Bledsoe an offer he’d consider signing. The fifth-year guard is reportedly seeking a five-year, $80MM contract, but the Suns have apparently been reluctant to offer him any more than a four-year $48MM pact. That’s a pretty major discrepancy in both average annual value and total guaranteed money.

The max money contract that Bledsoe is seeking is raising tension between the two sides, and Chris Broussard of ESPN.com reported that it’s looking likely Bledsoe will take Phoenix’s qualifying offer for $3.7MM. Doing so would allow him to hit unrestricted free agency next summer, but it would also mean accepting a steep discount in the interim.

The Bucks were one team said to have interest in Bledsoe, but they’d need to clear some cap space in order to give him the type of money he’s looking for. The Sixers possess the cap room to extend a max offer Bledsoe’s way, but they haven’t been reported to have any interest. If he is to hit unrestricted free agency next summer, he’s sure to draw serious attention from teams around the league; it’s just a question of whether or not he’s willing to take a pay cut in the meantime.

It’s getting pretty late into the summer, and it’s still not clear what’s going to happen. Do you think the two sides will eventually come to an agreement? Or is Bledsoe destined to take his qualifying offer and hit the open market next year? Vote below and share your thoughts in the comments section!

And-Ones: Bledsoe, Sixers, Seattle

August 5th, 2014 at 5:01pm CST by Chuck Myron

The relationship between the Suns and Eric Bledsoe continues to sour, and as it does, it’s looking like he’ll end up taking Phoenix’s one-year qualifying offer, worth about $3.7MM, tweets Chris Broussard of ESPN.com. That route would allow him to hit unrestricted free agency by next summer, but it would also represent a severe discount, not only on the maximum salary that Bledsoe has been seeking, but also from the four-year, $48MM offer the Suns have reportedly made. It’d be a surprising move if he ends up taking the QO, but it doesn’t seem as though the Rich Paul client is any closer to another deal. There’s more on Bledsoe amid the latest from around the league:

Four NBA executives and two agents who spoke with Paul Coro of the Arizona Republic believe that the four-year, $48MM offer the Suns reportedly made to Bledsoe is fair and don’t think that the 24-year-old point guard has merited the maximum salary. “I’m surprised that they would offer him that much,” one of the executives said. “They don’t need to. It is really fair and, in fact, generous. He is talented, but he has never put it together very long, and he hasn’t been healthy. It’s hard to turn your team over to him.”
The possibility that the Sixers could acquire Anthony Bennett and give up Thaddeus Young as the third team in a Kevin Love trade, one that Brian Windhorst of ESPN raised in a radio interview Monday, would be difficult to comprehend, argues Dei Lynam of CSNPhilly.com. Philadelphia’s purge of existing talent has been so profound that such a swap would seem like piling on, Lynam posits.
Coming up short in bids for the Bucks and Kings prompted Steve Ballmer to pounce on the chance to strike a deal to buy the Clippers and abandon his dream of bringing the NBA back to Seattle, as he tells Geoff Baker of The Seattle Times. The former Microsoft CEO said he hopes Seattle ends up with a team eventually, though he reiterated that he has no intention of moving the Clippers.

Relationship Worsening Between Suns, Bledsoe

July 29th, 2014 at 5:39pm CST by Ryan Raroque

The relationship between the Suns and Eric Bledsoe appears to be souring further, as a source tells Chris Haynes of CSNNW.com that an “ominous development” has emerged with both sides still very far apart in contract negotiations. The source adds that “the relationship is on the expressway to being ruined” at this point. This summer, Bledsoe had drawn significant interest from teams such as the Bucks and Jazz; however, Phoenix has effectively scared off potential suitors by making it clear that any offer sheet that the restricted free agent receives would be matched,

Prior to this update, we heard earlier this month that Phoenix was reportedly offering $48MM over four years; Bledsoe reportedly insisted on an $80MM deal over five seasons. Haynes mentions two sources who said that Phoenix’s offer included a decline in salaries each year. Not surprisingly, the proposal was quickly turned down.