Charlotte Hornets: Miles Bridges
The Charlotte Hornets find themselves in a very strong position as a franchise in terms of continuing to develop the youthful, high-level players on their roster, but they did not extend Miles Bridges ahead of yesterday’s deadline. Bridges is now 23-years-old and is coming off arguably his best all-around season in the league.
His athleticism and insane hops are what catches most people’s attention, but in terms of being effective on both ends of the court, Miles Bridges is definitely a player the Hornets can continue to build with for the future.
The Hornets are going to need to surround LaMelo Ball with other high-level scoring threats and while he has only averaged 10.8 points per game for his career, Bridges is definitely the kind of player they need to pair Ball with.
In terms of getting a max contract, Miles Bridges is definitely not this kind of player, but Kevin Huerter and the Hawks agreed to a four-year, $65M deal on Monday afternoon and this is the kind of deal that would make sense for the Hornets in regards to Miles Bridges.
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Anywhere between $14M-$17M per year seems reasonable for the Hornets’ young forward and he has earned this kind of deal with his play.
Not only can he score in transition, but Bridges proved to be a factor for the Hornets defensively last season, averaging just under a steal and block per game, and he increased his three-point shooting percentage to 40%.
When you talk about “glue-guys” in the NBA, in regards to players that can do a little bit of everything to help their team win games, Miles Bridges has to be up there in this category.
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Whether it is in the starting lineup or off-the-bench, Bridges makes a positive difference for his Hornets team and he is only going to get better in time, especially next to an elite-level point guard who can get him the ball like LaMelo Ball.
The Hornets will now have to compete for Bridges in the offseason and they run the risk of losing him to another team looking to make the playoffs in the Eastern Conference.
