Now that Eric Bledsoe is on his way out, the Suns have to figure out how to maximize the return for the frustrated guard.

ESPN.com reported on Tuesday that Phoenix was not impressed with the returns that were being offered for Bledsoe. Bledsoe hurt his value by tweeting “I don’t wanna be here,” and the Suns sending him home and publicizing his awful “hair salon” excuse only exacerbated the problem.

It appears that damage control began on Wednesday with GM Ryan McDonough getting out a two-pronged message: Eric Bledsoe’s representatives deserve the brunt of the blame and the Suns are willing to wait for a trade.

He did not exonerate Bledsoe, though.

“I was certainly surprised by it and disappointed by it,” McDonough told Arizona Sports 98.7 of Bledsoe’s tweet.

“I think Eric’s a good person. I think he’s unfortunately gotten some bad advice and is listening to the wrong people. I think generally, any time you sign a contract, it doesn’t only work one way. It works both ways, and for a guy with years on his contract to say or intimate he didn’t want to be here anymore, I didn’t find that to be appropriate, and I think if he says he wants to be a leader, that’s the opposite of what a leader does and the opposite of what leadership is. So I think that’s all I’m going to say about that.”

But McDonough did go on to twice more criticize Bledsoe’s agent, Rich Paul, who also represents LeBron James and multiple other top players in the NBA.

— “I think, just my opinion, the shift comes from contractual demands made by his representatives and that’s what I was referring to when I said I think he got bad advice.”

— “[Eric’s] a talented player and a good player, but like I said, I think he’s just being a little bit misguided at the moment with some of the advice he’s getting.”

The Suns, according to ESPN, are hoping to get back a rising star for Bledsoe, who has two years and $29 million left on his contract. The 27 year old has averaged over 20 points per game the past two seasons and is a high-end scorer.

According to one report, the Suns requested Willy Hernangomez and rookie point guard Frank Ntilikina from the Knicks. A source characterized that request as “ridiculous” to The Post’s Marc Berman.

Despite having an empty roster spot where its top player used to be, McDonough insisted the Suns are in no rush to make the trade.

“If you can imagine, my phone was ringing a lot [Monday],” McDonough said. “The ideal time to get a deal done is whenever the best offer presents itself. So we’d be fine doing it sooner rather than later. At the same time, he’s under contract for this year plus next year. We sent him away from the team to eliminate that distraction. So we’re willing to do a deal, we’re open to do a deal whenever the best offer presents itself.”