The Phoenix Suns are one of the few teams this offseason who possess a considerable amount of salary cap flexibility. They have a whopping $25 million in salaries on the books for the upcoming season which obviously gives them plenty of room to offer max contracts out to two players.
This enviable payroll situation isn't without it's problems though as the Suns have Goran Dragic in the last guaranteed year of his deal and they don't have Gerald Green under contract past this coming season either. The Suns have basically created this situation by not extending anyone's contract, which as they are about to see can backfire in a big way.
Dragic has a player option for the 2015-16 season but he's unlikely to exercise it at $7.5 million when he can surely get some long term security on a multi-year deal. Green is playing out his contract at $3.5 million and similarly will be looking for a substantial pay raise and multi-year security of a new deal.
Then there is the case of Eric Bledsoe who is a restricted free-agent and who is actively shopping himself around in hopes of landing a max contract. The Suns have already come out and stated their intention of matching any kind of offer Bledsoe can get including a max deal.
This public ploy by the Suns is a good one and a standard one, see Utah Jazz and Gordon Hayward, as it can be a dissuasion tactic for other teams in trying to poach RFA's. It could also be a ploy to lure teams into giving a max or near max deal to Bledsoe; at which time the Suns could just back away stating that the deal is too rich for them.
Do I think that a team will come in and offer a max deal to Bledsoe? No. Do I think that Bledsoe is worthy of a max deal? No, I don't think that either. Having said that I sincerely hope that a team who is desperate and who perhaps lost out on the LeBron James or Carmelo Anthony sweepstakes comes around and opens the vault in an attempt to appease a fan base.
Look, I have no objection to players getting paid as much as the owners want to spend but just because someone in a desperate situation signs a player to an outlandish deal that shouldn’t have an impact on the true market value of that player.
Bledsoe just isn't a max deal kind of player. He's a good player who missed 39 games last season due to injury. He is a high impact player who slashes hard and attacks the rim which is an asset but not to a guard coming off a knee surgery. A max deal player must be a leader, a winner and an All-Star performer who can will his team to victory on any given day.
If another team were to offer a huge deal here it could be an ideal situation for Phoenix. Let Bledsoe go with hopes of resigning Dragic and Green at a combined dollar figure less than what Bledsoe would have cost you and then turn around and go after Isaiah Thomas on a multi year deal. Thomas is clearly available and so long as the price isn't a bargain basement giveaway, the Sacramento Kings aren't going to match it.
Thomas gives a great insurance policy against losing Green or Dragic and he won't cut into the Suns ability to still add a max contract player. There is no justification for giving Bledsoe a max deal in Phoenix and the sooner the Suns look to viable replacements the better.