Eric Bledsoe has had a breakout season with the Phoenix Suns, receiving increased playing time and general usage.

Bledsoe will be a restricted free agent in the offseason.

"We'll have no problem stepping up and paying Eric whatever it takes to keep him," said Ryan McDonough.

"We feel like we're holding the cards with Eric, and more importantly, I think Eric's had a good experience here so far."

Robert Sarver has been incredibly impressed by the leadership of 33-year-old general manager Ryan McDonough.

"Given his age, I was really surprised at Ryan's level of knowledge and confidence," Sarver said. "A lot of guys can get wishy-washy about their convictions when it comes to players and coaches, but he had such strong opinions – such conviction – of what he wanted to do. He had an absolute strategic vision for our franchise."

The Phoenix Suns have begun the season with a 17-10 record.

"I needed to get a team with a GM and a coach who would have a good working relationship," Sarver told Yahoo Sports. "We had problems with Steve [Kerr] and Mike [D'Antoni], with Alvin [Gentry] and Lance [Blanks].

"It puts too much stress on the team."

Even after trading for Eric Bledsoe in the offseason, the Phoenix Suns planned to keep Goran Dragic and pair him with the young point guard.

"I don't think either one of us ever thought when we traded for Eric that, 'Well now, we've got to figure out where we're going to trade Goran,'" Jeff Hornacek said. "It was right off the bat, saying 'We're going to play these guys together and have that tempo change.'

"When Ryan asked me about (the trade), I said, 'Hey, Eric looks like Kevin Johnson when he was here playing in Phoenix, and Goran is kind of like I was.' We turned a team that was winning 28 games (in 1987-88) to winning 55 (in 1988-89)."

The Suns are 16-10 so far this season.

The Phoenix Suns are looking to trade one or more draft picks in the 2014 NBA Draft for a proven star player who can make an immediate impact.

The Suns will have as many as four picks in June's draft and are not placing them off limits in potential trades.

“I think one of the things that’s important for people to realize is that we may not draft four players even if we have four picks,” Ryan McDonough said. “Our preference would probably be to maybe package a few of them. We’re obviously all looking for stars and we feel like we can put together a package as good, if not better, than any other team in the league if and when a star becomes available.

"That’s kind of generally what we’ve wanted to do, not only with our draft-pick situation but also with the cap space that we’ve acquired.”