Saints would be best off trading for him next year rather than this year surely? At least next year he will be out of contract.
I think that’s right. And logically that seems the more likely scenario if anything is going to happen.
The Suns have said they are confident Ben will stay with them and they look forward to him fulfilling his contract with them next year. Apparently Saints have made it clear to Ben and his management that if he requested a trade to them they would try to get it done.
There are no indications that anything is going to happen this year. In the meantime it’s assumed Ben will enter into the last year of his contract unsigned and will make a final decision about his future sometime next year.