Agent Rich Paul on dealing with Suns before Eric Bledsoe trade: ‘It’s business’

Since the Suns sent point guard Eric Bledsoe away from the team and since he was traded to the Milwaukee Bucks, little has come from the player or his camp regarding what played out as an an ugly — and public — departure from Phoenix.

It seems it’ll stay that way.

In an interview more than a month after Bledsoe was shipped to Milwaukee, the point guard’s agent, Rich Paul, joined ESPN’s The Hoop Collective podcast and discussed Bledsoe’s reasoning for requesting a trade. Paul was also asked about the comments Suns general manager Ryan McDonough made suggesting the guard’s representatives gave him bad advice by pushing for a deal.

In short, it was just about doing the best thing for his client.

“If you (are together) for so long but then you have one or two bad days, that’s how it goes. But at the end of the day, you try to do things with professionalism and integrity but at the same time, I, in the seat that I sit in, I always have to do what’s right for my player, and I felt like Eric needed a change,” Paul told ESPN’s Marc J. Spears, Chris Haynes and Amin Elhassan.

“Obviously, as we know, all teams, they’re going to do what’s best for the organization, and I get that. I have zero to say that would be in negative light about that. I wish them guys the best of luck.”

Pressed on the podcast about McDonough’s comments that questioned Bledsoe’s leadership and the advice he was receiving, Paul suggested that it hasn’t caused a rift between he and the Suns regarding future clients.

“Look, who knows? Things come back around,” Paul said. “There are summers of free agency and things like that. If it don’t work on this player, maybe it works on the next. It’s business. I don’t take any of this stuff personal.”

In late October, McDonough suggested there was a sudden shift in Bledsoe’s thinking regarding whether he saw himself as part of Phoenix’s future. McDonough also didn’t believe that Bledsoe’s tweet of “I Dont wanna be here,” which sparked the Suns sending him home, was about Bledsoe’s time spent at a hair salon.

Bledsoe’s representatives were seeking a contract extension before this past offseason, the GM told Burns & Gambo on 98.7 FM Arizona’s Sports Station.

“With two years left on his contract, we did not think that was something that made sense for the team, and we told Eric and his representatives that that was something that we were potentially open to discussing next summer with one year left on his deal,” McDonough said.

“And I guess they didn’t like that answer and took kind of a hostile approach and kinda shut down and distanced themselves from the team and I think that’s where the approach came from.”

Bledsoe met with the Suns prior to the 2017-18 season requesting a trade, reported 98.7 FM Arizona’s Sports Station’s John Gambadoro.

Still, Phoenix played him in the first three games of the year — including two 40-plus-point losses — before his tweet came on the same day the organization fired coach Earl Watson.

“At the end of the day, the only thing I can focus on is what Eric thinks. I know what Eric thought going in,” Paul said. “There is no way you can ever win an Oscar as an actor if you’re were only evaluated from the opening scene. Got to let the movie play out. You got to watch the movie.

“As it pertains to Eric, hey, he’s happy. He’s now a Milwaukee Buck. He’s playing well. That’s all that matters to me.”

Follow @kzimmermanaz