Miles Bridges may not be returning to the Charlotte Hornets after all. Good. | Opinion
If recent reports are to be believed, the Charlotte Hornets are looking to reunite with Miles Bridges, the restricted free agent whose NBA career has been on hold since he was arrested for allegedly beating his partner in front of their two children.
ESPN reported in late December that talks between Bridges and the Hornets are “gathering traction,” and there is “optimism” that a deal can be reached in the near future.
The Hornets say this is not true.
“We have not been engaged in contract negotiations with Miles Bridges,” the Hornets told me in a statement this week.
Bridges pleaded no contest to a felony domestic violence charge in November. A no contest plea is neither an admission nor a denial of guilt, but it has the same legal effect as a guilty plea in terms of conviction and sentencing. Bridges received three years of probation but avoided jail time.
The allegations against Bridges are serious and disturbing. Shortly after his arrest in June, Bridges’ partner posted a series of images to Instagram detailing the abuse. Included was a photo of a hospital report, which indicated she had suffered a concussion, a broken nose, a rib contusion and bruising. The report described her as an “adult victim of physical abuse by male partner” and noted she’d been strangled.
“I hate that it has come to this but I can’t be silent anymore. I’ve allowed someone to destroy my home, abuse me in every way possible and traumatize our kids for life,” she wrote in the Instagram post.
Inexplicably, ESPN referred to Bridges’ arrest and subsequent felony conviction as his “role in an offseason domestic violence case,” glossing over the abuse as if it were a minor subplot on a TV show.
Hornets fans and Charlotteans should be relieved to hear that a deal with Bridges may not, in fact, be imminent. The ESPN report was poorly received by many fans, who also expressed displeasure at Bridges’ courtside presence at a recent game against the Los Angeles Lakers.
Still, it’s unclear whether this means a deal with Bridges is off the table completely. When asked whether the team has ruled out the possibility of bringing Bridges back next season, the Hornets declined to comment. Bridges was the leading scorer for the Hornets last season, and the team has struggled without him. But some things are more important than winning — integrity and accountability among them.
In our society, there are often few repercussions for abusers, despite the harm they inflict on others. Professional sports is a prime example — athletes who are accused of violence against women may suffer a hit to their reputations, but it generally does not affect their careers.
That’s a status quo upheld by institutions like the Carolina Panthers, who heavily pursued quarterback Deshaun Watson despite the mountain of allegations against him. More than two dozen women accused Watson of sexual misconduct, but that didn’t stop teams like the Panthers from trying to win him over. The Cleveland Browns ended up offering Watson arguably the most lucrative contract in NFL history, and he returned to the field in December after serving an 11-game suspension.
It would also be a status quo upheld by institutions like the Hornets, if they did ultimately choose to reunite with Bridges. Such a decision would give the impression that the Hornets care more about what players do on the court than what they do off of it. That’s a bad look for our city, and it would send the wrong message to fans.
Bridges, like Watson and many others before him, may very well end up richer and more successful than ever, his off-court conduct only a tiny hurdle on his path to stardom. The Hornets should not be the team that is willing to look past it and offer Bridges a second chance — one that he perhaps has not yet earned.
This story was originally published January 2, 2023 at 2:33 PM.
