The NBA is most definitely perched in its slow season, with the top free agents long having signed away, and the anticipated deal sending Kevin Love to Cleveland still a few weeks away from being NBA-legal. Beyond Friday’s Basketball Hall of Fame ceremony, and the next time Nick Young beefs with whatever the heck an “Iggy Azalea” is, all we’ve left to do is wait out the futures of all manner of available free agents.

Whether they be restricted, ancient, lunkheaded, undervalued, outmoded or just plain weird, they’re all out there. Here’s the best of what’s left:

Eric Bledsoe

It was rumored on Tuesday that Bledsoe would be willing to take the qualifying offer from the Phoenix Suns, play out his year, and hit the open market in 2015 as an unrestricted free agent. Whether this is a plant or not, it’s a solid feint from Bledsoe’s camp, which has absolutely no leverage in dealing with restricted free agency.

Bledsoe was not a high end draft pick, so his relatively slim qualifying offer of over $3.7 million would be less than a third of what the Suns are reportedly offering for next year’s salary, and under a quarter of the maximum contract yearly averages that he desires. It would seem to be a solid gambit, plenty of teams will pounce on Bledsoe as their highly-compensated consolation prize next summer, and he should make up that sort of qualifying offer cash in the long run.

Ideally.

Bledsoe has already undergone two of the scarier NBA knee procedures in tearing his meniscus twice. During the second repair, it was revealed that surgeons decided to take what is usually a penny-wise, pound-foolish approach to the knee, but that decision may have been instructed more by the bad shape Eric’s knee was already in more than it was a move to get him back on the court. They may have had no chance.

Not taking the guaranteed money is a risky move for Bledsoe, and while he’ll have solid free agent suitors next year if his knee goes out again, or he misses time (he’s missed a total of 72 games in four NBA seasons) with another injury, the market will worry the bottle.

From there, we move to the Suns’ approach, which is a smart but uneasy one. Bledsoe has already acknowledged that the Suns are “using restricted free agency against me,” and while he didn’t say this unkindly, this cannot be fun. Bledsoe would seem to have a brighter future than most guards making $48 million over four years, especially provided that he continues to team with Goran Dragic, but again – two knee surgeries, 72 games missed, not a long track record of running his team on his own. And relatively iffy numbers when charged with as much with Dragic off the court next season.

Bledsoe will likely stay a Sun. The only question is regarding how angry this Sun will be, and for how much money?

Greg Monroe

We’ve already discussed at length Monroe’s prospects in an earlier column, and little has changed since it came out. The Pistons are in a unique situation as they attempt to rebuild with both veterans on contracts, rookies on rookie deals, and Monroe’s restricted free agency looming.

Monroe, like Bledsoe, has little if any leverage, and it’s reported that he’s convinced Detroit isn’t so much holding his feet to the fire as it is they just don’t want the guy back. That’s debatable, new coach Stan Van Gundy is a competitor and though Monroe isn’t his typical power forward, SVG probably thinks he can make light of Detroit’s currently crowded front court situation.

Until a deal is reached, opposing teams aren’t going to waste time compiling a contract with Monroe just to get Detroit’s affairs in order, and they’re certainly not going to overpay and scare the Pistons away from matching a restricted offer. Monroe was a lottery pick, so he doesn’t take nearly as much hit as Bledsoe would in playing for the qualifying offer.

Shawn Marion

It’s worth noting that, though he had aged well in the years leading up to 2013-14, Marion’s production took a bit of a dive last season. His rebounding and assist percentage dropped severely, he shot less, and not even an uptick in three-point shooting (to a reasonable 35.8 percent) could stave of Shawn’s worst year yet. The addition of Monta Ellis and Jose Calderon’s heavy-usage ways may have played a part in some of that, but it’s important to note for teams looking for the Shawn Marion they saw in recent years, much less a decade ago.

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