Old Faces, Old Place: Eric Bledsoe Re-Signs With Phoenix Suns
The Player: Eric Bledsoe
The Team: Phoenix Suns
The Contract: 5 years, $70 million
How does it affect the cap situation?
Even though they ended up paying Bledsoe a little more than they initially wanted to (on a per-year basis), the Suns are still in strong financial shape. Prior to the Bledsoe deal, the team’s highest paid player, Goran Dragic, would have made just $7.5 million this season. $70 million is a lot to commit to a player without a long track record of success, but it’s a fair enough price to keep the team’s competitive advantage in tact.
Via Basketball Insiders, the Suns sit at just $57.352 million in salaries for the coming season. They’re just over the salary floor of $56.759 million, and significantly under the cap of $63.065 million.
Goran Dragic has a player option for next season, and he’ll likely be looking for a bigger deal next summer. He’s worth more than the $7.5 million option, and the Suns should have the space to give him what he deserves, should they so choose. They snagged Isaiah Thomas on a fair, descending deal, so it appears as if management has every intention of keeping Dragic around with Bledsoe and Thomas. When you play a two point guard system, having three good ones isn’t a problem; it’s a necessity.
Additionally, the Morris twins will likely be looking for new deals next summer. So while it seems like the Suns have a ton of financial flexibility at the moment, most of it will be gone in a year.
How does it affect the luxury tax?
Unless there are some ridiculously major roster moves during the year, Phoenix won’t be paying the tax.
What’s next?
Like I mentioned above, the team’s next major moves will probably to keep their own guys around. Dragic will be a priority, and I’m assuming that the Morris twins are in the team’s future plans as well. The Suns are financially committed to their strategy of loading up on quality guards, but unless Alex Len begins to show more promise than he did last year, they figure to be in need of a big man sooner rather than later. They do have a bunch of movable contracts and other assets if they want to make a play for a big star, but they can pursue the route they’re currently on and be just fine as well.
