Miles Bridges sees a future with Hornets, but they have big contract decisions to make
Miles Bridges has something in common with the city in which he currently resides.
Mirroring one of the myriad construction sites dotting Uptown that eventually sprout a high rise, adding to the ever-growing skyline, the Charlotte Hornets forward has quickly become one of the top young players in the NBA. He blossomed into a two-way player and developed as the Hornets’ leading scorer during his fourth season.
“My mom loves it here, my kids love it here,” Bridges said Thursday after the Hornets’ offseason began following Wednesday night’s loss to Atlanta. “Charlotte has really taken me in and brought me in. I got drafted as a 20-year-old kid. And for me to grow up here and for everybody to embrace me like they have, that’s something I’ll never forget. Especially going into the contract season.
“Charlotte took me in as a 20-year-old kid, and now I’m a 24-year-old man, and I love it here.”
The burning question this offseason is this: Will he continue aging with the Hornets? He’s going to be a restricted free agent this summer and he reiterated he doesn’t want to go anywhere. Bridges is perfectly content with continuing what he has going with LaMelo Ball and Terry Rozier, whom he considers family, and the rest of the Hornets’ core.
“I would love to play with Melo and Terry for the rest of my career,” Bridges said. “Those are my guys, my brothers. All of us damn near averaged 20 (points) this year, so just to have that type of relationship with such dynamic players and bring it to the basketball court every night, you don’t see that too much in the NBA. And we have that relationship and that’s what it is. It will always be like that. So I’m just happy to be a part of them.”
Bridges, who was fined $50,000 by the NBA on Thursday for throwing his mouthpiece into the stands after getting ejected in Wednesday’s loss in Atlanta, is one of the Hornets’ four free agents. Cody Martin, Montrezl Harrell and Isaiah Thomas are the others, and the latter two are unrestricted free agents while Bridges and Martin are restricted.
That means once the Hornets extend a qualifying offer, they have the right to match any contract either receives on the open market. Bridges is expected to see a significant raise with a total value well north of $100 million after turning down a four-year, $60 million extension prior to season.
The Hornets can also offer him an extra year on the deal, which also gives them an advantage over other potential suitors. Keeping Bridges is important because he’s part of that core around which the Hornets are structuring their roster.
Ball has two years remaining on his rookie contract, and Terry Rozier’s four-year, $97-million extension kicks in next season. Gordon Hayward, who revealed a bone chip in his foot resulted in him halting his comeback, is owed more than $61.5 million over the next two years, and moving his contract could be difficult if that’s a direction they wanted to go in.
Among the other rotational players, PJ Washington, Kelly Oubre and Mason Plumlee will enter the final year of their deals and the Hornets hold a team option on Jalen McDaniels. He’s a player the organization loves and Plumlee raved about him as a teammate during Thursday’s exit interviews.
Plenty of decisions have to be made, including whether to re-sign Harrell.
“We are just going to look at the roster as a whole and see where we can get better and how we’re going to improve,” coach James Borrego said. “There’s question marks that we’ve got to answer along the way and I just don’t have those answers right now. But for us, we’ll dig into those questions, we’ll answer those questions and we’ll make the appropriate adjustments.”
Thomas came on board late via 10-day contracts before solidifying a spot leading into their season-ending run. His knowledge proved to be invaluable and he also quickly formed a bond with Ball, even watching film with the 20-year-old All-Star.
If the feeling is mutual, Thomas would love nothing more than to run it back with the Hornets. He doesn’t think his job here is complete and believes the organization is on the rise.
“Man, I want to be here,” Thomas said. “I see something special in this group. I see a place where I can really help. But I would love to be here. This team gave me a chance when really nobody was giving me one. They allowed me to come in and be who I am. They embraced that on and off the floor.
“S - - -, the players from Day One wanted me to be who I am and that makes transition that much easier. But I would love to be here. I would love to be able to groom Melo to be even more special than he is. I would love to be here to help T-Ro, help Miles take that next step. That young core group of guys, I know I can help in so many ways.”
Martin was usually the first reserve off the bench and is considered their top defender, often drawing the assignments of guarding one of the opponent’s best players. He’s all for returning and keeping the Hornets’ core together, citing how it can truly enhance them heading into 2022-23.
“I think that’s always important to have consistency and chemistry at the same time,” Martin said. “It’s only going to benefit the team moving forward to have that chemistry and cohesiveness and understanding each other’s game, having that experience with each other, playing with each other and also finding ways to improve individually as well as and collectively. I think that’s a big part of progression.”
In the Hornets’ case it could have an exponential effect.
“I feel like this team is real tight,” Ball said. “I feel like it was a brotherhood. We would chill off the court and on the court and everything. So I feel we were real tight and brothers. It’s big to stay together. Especially games like (Wednesday) night and definitely if you are going to be in the playoffs or make a playoff run, you already know the atmosphere is crazy. So you’ve gotta stick together.”
This story was originally published April 15, 2022 at 6:05 AM with the headline "Miles Bridges sees a future with Hornets, but they have big contract decisions to make."
