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Phoenix Suns: 10 Potential Trades As Sellers Before 2017 NBA Trade Deadline

By Gerald Bourguet

Jan 3, 2017; Phoenix, AZ, USA; Phoenix Suns guard Eric Bledsoe (2) and center Tyson Chandler (4) run up the court in the first half of the NBA game against the Miami Heat at Talking Stick Resort Arena. The Suns won 99-90. Mandatory Credit: Jennifer Stewart-USA TODAY Sports
Jan 3, 2017; Phoenix, AZ, USA; Phoenix Suns guard Eric Bledsoe (2) and center Tyson Chandler (4) run up the court in the first half of the NBA game against the Miami Heat at Talking Stick Resort Arena. The Suns won 99-90. Mandatory Credit: Jennifer Stewart-USA TODAY Sports /
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Nov 4, 2016; New Orleans, LA, USA; Phoenix Suns guard Eric Bledsoe (2) celebrates with forward Jared Dudley (3) after winning a game in overtime against the New Orleans Pelicans at the Smoothie King Center. The Suns defeated the Pelicans 112-111 in overtime. Mandatory Credit: Derick E. Hingle-USA TODAY Sports /

7. Assembling The Kentucky Pelicans

In his best NBA season yet, it’d be almost cruel for the Suns to trade Eric Bledsoe. If not for the team’s 18-39 record (worst in the Western Conference), he would have garnered All-Star consideration.

However, Bledsoe’s superstar play this season has boosted his league-wide value to all-time highs, and with the Suns poised to dive headfirst into a youth movement revolving around Devin Booker (20 years old), Marquese Chriss (19) and Dragan Bender (19), the 27-year-old Bledsoe might be of more use to the Suns as a trade chip since he’s on a different timeline.

Trading a player averaging a career-high 21.6 points, a career-high 6.2 assists and 4.9 rebounds per game doesn’t sound like a smart decision for a franchise that will be missing the playoffs for its seventh straight season this year.

But Bledsoe deserves to play for an actual playoff team and there are plenty of other teams who might be willing to surrender covetable assets — like young players or future draft picks to aid the Suns’ rebuild — for a top-10 point guard. The Suns should at least consider trading him now, especially because his injury history is not exactly encouraging.

Jrue Holiday has been terrific for the New Orleans Pelicans since he returned to the court, but his status as a free agent this summer complicates his long-term future for a franchise that just scored a home run adding DeMarcus Cousins. Why not bring in Eric Bledsoe to join his buddy Boogie and Anthony Davis to create an all-Kentucky Big Three?

Bledsoe is still only 27 and alongside those two superstars, New Orleans would have a superb foundation to build around. They’d have a borderline elite point guard locked in for another two seasons after this one, and they wouldn’t have to worry about overpaying to keep Holiday.

For the Suns, they could either try to re-sign Holiday while they wait for Ulis or an incoming rookie to be groomed into their point guard of the future, or they could let him walk and pocket the future first-rounder.

Unfortunately, the Pelicans just gave up their 2017 first-rounder to the Sacramento Kings, so the soonest the Suns could get a pick would be 2019. New Orleans might value Holiday more than he’s actually worth as an impending free agent, or they may not want to deal him away if it comes at the price of a first-rounder.

For the Suns, a soon-to-be-departing Holiday and a late lottery pick might not be enough value for Bledsoe compared to other offers they might receive if they actually put him on the trade block.

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