Phoenix Suns: 5 reasons they won’t make the playoffs in 2017-18

2. Their best player could be trade bait

Booker is the face of the franchise, but Eric Bledsoe is undoubtedly still the Phoenix Suns’ best player heading into 2017-18. Maybe that changes if Booker shows a devout dedication to improving on the defensive end, but most likely, Bledsoe will remain the Suns’ best overall player for his two-way skill-set.

Unfortunately for the Suns, there’s no guarantee he remains on the roster for the entire 2017-18 season. He may love Phoenix, and general manager Ryan McDonough has repeatedly stated Bledsoe isn’t going anywhere, but a change of scenery just makes too much for both parties.

Phoenix Suns

For the Suns, they’d be capitalizing on Bledsoe’s current trade value, which is never going to be any higher than it is now. Not only is he already 27 years old, but he’s coming off a career year in which he averaged 21.1 points, 6.3 assists and 4.8 rebounds per game. Perhaps just as important, he stayed perfectly healthy. For a player with his history of knee problems, failing to capitalize on his current trade value and net a young player or future draft asset while they can would be a mistake on the Suns’ part.

For Bledsoe, it’d be a pity for him to waste what’s left of his prime toiling away on a rebuilding Suns team. His age doesn’t match up with #TheTimeline, so even though Phoenix doesn’t have to trade him, they’d be doing him a solid by moving him to a more competitive team where he could actually help in the playoffs.

Nothing is certain, and the Suns could very well play out the season with Eric Bledsoe as their starting point guard. But for a team that will likely be out of the playoff picture by February, moving Bledsoe, dropping more games and using those extra assets to find a new franchise point guard just makes too much sense.

If Phoenix trades away its best player, the emphasis on youth development and tanking will be even heavier, and you can be guaranteed the playoffs will be even more out of reach in that scenario.