After spending the last four seasons playing for the Suns, it doesn’t sound like Eric Bledsoe wants to play in Phoenix anymore. While he hasn’t come out and actually said those words himself, he didsend out a very cryptic tweet on Sunday that seemed to indicate he wouldn’t mind seeing the Suns trade him.
It’s a sentiment he reportedly shared with the team before the start of the 2017-18 NBA season.
But after scoring just 4 points in a 42-point loss to the Clippers on Saturday night, Bledsoe apparently decided that he had definitely had enough. So he sent out his "I Dont wanna be here" tweet and put the Suns on notice in the process. And while he attempted to downplay the tweet later by telling the Suns’ management that his tweet was actually in reference to a trip he took to a hair salon, Suns general manager Ryan McDonough told reporters he wasn’t buying it on Monday.
"He said he was at a hair salon," McDonough said. "It wasn’t about the Suns or anything related to the Suns. He said he was at a hair salon with his girl and that he didn’t want to be there anymore. I don’t believe that to be true."
So that’s that. Bledsoe is currently not taking part in any Suns' team activities, and the franchise is actively trying to trade him away, even though they’re probably not going to be able to get much in return for him considering the circumstances.
But is that all there is to the story? A couple of ESPN personalities aren't so sure. ESPN’s Jon "Stugotz" Weiner of The Dan LeBatard Show with Stugotz appeared on Mike & Mike on Thursday morning, and he shared a pretty wild theory that his co-host Dan LeBatard actually came up with first on Wednesday for why Bledsoe is suddenly in such a rush to get out of Phoenix. He said that he thinks LeBron James has something to do with it.
"He absolutely meant he wanted to get out of Phoenix," Stugotz said, referencing Bledsoe’s tweet, "and I believe LeBron James was behind this as well, by the way, because Rich Paul, LeBron’s agent and LeBron owns that agency, that is Eric Bledsoe’s agent. So I think they told him, 'Hey, tweet out...' Because LeBron needs help. He has seen [Dwyane] Wade and he has seen [Derrick] Rose and he is not happy with what he has looked at thus far and he needs help and he needs Eric Bledsoe. So what did he do? He said, 'Take your girlfriend to the salon, and while you’re there, tweet out you no longer want to be in Phoenix and people will read into it that way and you can always fall back on the excuse that, Hey, I was just at the salon. What guy wants to sit at the salon waiting for his girlfriend to get their hair done? It’s a perfect plan. Well executed by Bledsoe."
Now, if you’re familiar with Stugotz at all, then you know that he’s not above throwing out crazy conspiracy theories like this all the time. You also know he’s not above blatantly stealing LeBatard’s takes and using them on a different show to stir the pot. And we should point out that, at the end of his explanation about what he thinks happened with Bledsoe, he jokingly said, "You guys believe that? Because I’m telling you, that’s what happened. I am reporting that with 100 percent certainty that that is what happened."
But for what’s it worth, there were some people who sat up after Stugotz said what he said about LeBron and Bledsoe and responded by saying, "Wait a second, that might make some sense."
There are also some obvious connections between LeBron and Bledsoe that might make NBA fans think twice before dismissing Stugotz. As Stugotz mentioned, Bledsoe is represented by Rich Paul, LeBron’s childhood friend, and Klutch Sports Group, the same agency that handles LeBron’s affairs. McDonough actually took aim at Paul while ripping Bledsoe for handling his trade request in the way he did.
"[Eric’s] a talented player and a good player, but... I think he’s just being a little bit misguided at the moment with some of the advice he’s getting," McDonough said during an interview on Arizona Sports Radio 98.7.
LeBron and Bledsoe have also been workout buddies in recent years. As recently as July, LeBron, Bledsoe, and Rose worked out together in Las Vegas, right around the time when the Kyrie Irving trade rumors were starting to gain some traction. And back then, there was a report that indicated LeBron wanted the Cavaliers to try and obtain Bledsoe, Josh Jackson, and more from the Suns for Irving.
LeBron has also talked about how he considers Bledsoe to be like a little brother to him. Back in the summer of 2014, he urged the Suns to "break bread" and give Bledsoe a big contract. He also spoke about Bledsoe before a game against the Suns in January and played up how much he has developed since first coming into the NBA.
"I think the reason he’s playing so well on the floor is how much he’s grown off the floor," LeBron said, according to AZ Central. "He’s a complete family man at this point. Kids. Beautiful family. Beautiful fiancée. His mom is the backbone of it all. It makes the game that much easier when things off the court are well off."
LeBron was also one of the many NBA players in attendance at Bledsoe’s wedding this past summer. So if he is somehow connected to Bledsoe’s trade request, would you be surprised? In fact, when you consider all of the previous connections between LeBron and Bledsoe, it almost seems crazy to imagine Bledsoe not texting or calling LeBron before making the move that he did and essentially forcing his way out of Phoenix. If nothing else, you'd think he would lean on LeBron for advice given their friendship.
But the thing that prevents us from fully buying into Stugotz and LeBatard's theory is that Bledsoe doesn’t get to control what comes next. So even if he did conspire with LeBron to get out of Phoenix, there’s no guarantee he will end up in Cleveland. And if you believe the reports that have already come out about Bledsoe’s possible trade destinations, it seems unlikely that the Cavaliers will win the Bledsoe sweepstakes.
But if we’ve learned anything about the NBA over the course of the last couple years, it’s that you should probably just expect the unexpected. And if we one day find out that LeBron was involved in Bledsoe’s Twitter trade demand, it wouldn’t even be all that surprising. In a world where Draymond Green openly recruits Kevin Durant just hours after losing in the NBA Finals and the Banana Boat brothers openly talk about trying to end up on the same team one day, all of this conspiracy theory talk just comes along with being an NBA fan in 2017.
