Suns, Bledsoe agree on 5-year, $70M deal

Eric Bledsoe (Matt York/AP)

PHOENIX — The Phoenix Suns and point guard Eric Bledsoe have reached agreement on a five-year, $70 million contract.

The Suns announced the deal Wednesday.

The deal is considerably more than the four-year, $48 million the Suns initially offered but well below the five-year, $80 million-plus maximum contract Bledsoe’s agent, Rich Paul, sought for the restricted free agent.

The sides didn’t budge in their negotiations until talks finally progressed in the last few days.

Bledsoe faced an Oct. 1 deadline to sign a $3.7 million qualifying offer to play for the Suns this season, then become an unrestricted free agent.

The Suns see Bledsoe as a critical part of their double point-guard system with Goran Dragic.

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