Both Eric Bledsoe and Greg Monroe came into this summer with designs on getting a maximum contract from someone. Both were unable to get the deal they wanted.
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Greg Monroe finally conceded to signing a one-year qualifying offer to make him an unrestricted free agent next season, but according to Yahoo! Sports’ Adrian Wojnarowski, Bledsoe has yet to take that step:
Suns' Bledsoe remains final RFA on market. Agent has held firm on max contract or no deal. He couldn't get Bledsoe an offer sheet elsewhere.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@WojYahooNBA) September 5, 2014
The Suns have not moved off of their four year, $48 million offer and have publicly said they will match any offer Bledsoe receives, which has stopped teams from making any offer as well. Signing a qualifying offer is a very risky move as it gives the player no financial stability and if he were to suffer an injury, his stock could take a massive hit.
For a player like Monroe who has averaged 15 points and nine rebounds each of the last three seasons, while only missing one game throughout that period, the risk is less since the NBA knows what he can do, and he rarely gets hurt.
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Bledsoe, however, missed 39 games just last season and 42 in 2012. His potential is extremely high and he is trying to cash in on that as soon as possible.
No one is quite sure how this saga will turn out, but with rumors that the Lakers could pursue him next summer, they will surely be keeping an eye on this situation.
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