NBA Rumors: Suns to match any offer for Eric Bledsoe

Phoenix Suns guard Eric Bledsoe will be a restricted free agent at season end, but if any other NBA team has any ideas of snagging him away – think again.

That’s the sentiment of Suns owner Robert Sarver who says the franchise is essentially willing to match any offer Bledsoe receives in free agency.

"He also said he doesn’t need Bledsoe to return in order to match any contract offer that might be coming to the restricted free agent this off-season.“I think we had a pretty good idea of who Eric was when we traded for him,” Sarver said. “So I wouldn’t say we need to see more of him to match any offer. Obviously, we’d like to see more of him because our team plays better when he’s playing. And we’re competing (now), we’re making a playoff run this year. And I think if we can get him back, not only can we make a playoff run, we have a chance to be a team that can win in the playoffs, too.”"

Earlier this season it was reported that the Suns would match any ‘reasonable’ offer so it’s a change in stance from the Suns owner.

It could also be a ploy to stop teams from offering Bledsoe a contract considering doing so holds up any potential moves until the other team decides to accept or decline the match. We’ve seen teams in the past miss out on key free agent moves due to the fact their pending contract offer was in limbo as a team decided to match a restricted contract offer.