Phoenix Suns point guard Kendall Marshall on the trading block

NBA.com's Scott Howard-Cooper is reporting that the Phoenix Suns have put last year's 13th overall draft pick Kendall Marshall on the trading block and are looking to move him.

Howard-Cooper cites "several league executives" as his source of information.

"He’s out there," said a member of one personnel department, meaning Marshall is available.

"They’re trying to attach him to pretty much any deal that comes up," another executive said here at summer league. "If you want to talk about any of their players, they include him. He’s basically the price of admission to any trade right now."

Suns GM Ryan McDonough has denied that they're actively looking to ship Marshall out of town, however.

"I wouldn’t say he’s available," Suns general manager Ryan McDonough, hired in May, said Monday. "Everybody has a price, right? It depends on what that price is. As you saw out there today, he’s been working very hard on his shot. He made a couple 3-pointers, made the game-tying shot. I think that’ll be the next step in Kendall’s development. He’s also worked very hard on his body. As you can probably tell, he’s in good shape now. He has the natural, innate passing ability to find guys.

"We view Bledsoe and Dragic as guards who can play together some. It’s not going to be Bledsoe or Dragic. Most of the time, it’s going to be Bledsoe and Dragic together. You need more than two, obviously. Those guys aren’t going to play 48 minutes, and I think Kendall’s shown he’d be pretty good in the backup role."

No GM is going to just come out and say "Of course I want to trade this guy." In this situation it's McDonough's word against the word of un-nmed executives from other teams.

This report does make plenty of sense. Marshall was drafted by the previous regime and McDonough and company have no attachment to him. The Suns do have a crowded backcourt with Goran Dragic, Eric Bledsoe, Shannon Brown and rookie Archie Goodwin. Diante Garrett is still under contract at the moment as well.

But as McDonough said, the plan is to play Dragic and Bledsoe together a lot which means Marshall isn't really a third-stringer. Unless they plan on staggering their minutes and making sure at least one of them is on the court at all times, somebody has to run the point when those two are resting. Marshall has played pretty well in Vegas so far and could be ready for minutes when the season kicks off. Unless the Suns feel confident Goodwin, who the team reportedly views as point guard long-term, is ready to play minutes right away or they think Garrett can fill in for short stretches, there is a role for Marshall on this team.

Howard-Cooper went on NBA TV to talk about his report, and cited Marshall's inability to pay in an uptempo system as part of the reasoning for moving him. As I've said before, that simply isn't true as Marshall is better in transition than he is in the halfcourt right now.

What do you think Bright Siders? Are the Suns trying to move Kendall Marshall after just one year?