Eric Bledsoe is an exciting talent. He’s already established himself as a good point guard in the NBA, and he’s got plenty of time to improve — he’s only 25 years old. After spending 3 years in Los Angeles learning the ropes from Chris Paul, Bledsoe took his talents to Phoenix, where he put up strong per-game numbers of 17.7 points, 5.5 assists, 4.7 rebounds, and 1.6 steals in his first year. Last season was his second with the Suns, and his numbers were similar to the prior year. Despite sharing the backcourt with Goran Dragic and Isaiah Thomas for much of the year(and then Brandon Knight afterwards) Bledsoe played more minutes per game than he ever had before.
However, Bledsoe isn’t the only young, talented point guard on the Suns’ roster. Brandon Knight is there as well, and rather than sticking with their weird two point guard backcourt, the front office will likely have to choose between the two at some point. It’s a difficult decision. Bledsoe probably has more upside — he can jump out of the gym. However, Knight is two years younger, and isn’t lacking in the upside department either. Knight was phenomenal in his last two seasons with the Bucks, but his numbers regressed a lot in Phoenix. However, that shouldn’t discourage the Suns whatsoever, as there’s always an adjustment period when a player joins an unfamiliar team, especially when he has to share the backcourt with another point guard. Besides, it was a small sample size; Knight played just 11 games with Phoenix.
It looks like the Suns will choose Knight over Bledsoe if given the chance. From ESPN’s Marc Stein:
That Suns will seriously explore their Eric Bledsoe trade options if they indeed strikes the deal w/B-Knight that @GeryWoelfel is reporting
— Marc Stein (@ESPNSteinLine) June 29, 2015
The deal with Knight that Stein referred to would likely be one worth $70 million over 5 years, and it’s probably going to happen. That’s a pretty big contract, and it’s unlikely that they keep Bledsoe around if they’re willing to shell out the big bucks to another player at his position.
