Miles Bridges agrees to three-year, $75 million deal to return to Charlotte Hornets
Miles Bridges isn’t going anywhere.
The Charlotte Hornets and Bridges agreed to a three-year, $75 million deal, league sources confirmed to The Observer on Saturday. Bridges repeatedly said he wanted to return and now he’s back to team up with good friend LaMelo Ball.
Bridges was the Hornets’ most durable player in 2023-24, averaging career bests in points (21), made field goals (8.1), 3-pointers (2.3), 2-pointers (5.8), total rebounds (7.3) and defensive rebounds (6.3).
There wasn’t much of a market for Bridges, particularly once the few teams with ample salary cap space didn’t bid for his services, likely due to the 26-year-old pleading no contest to felony domestic violence charges in 2022. Chatter emerged earlier in the week about Bridges being interested in the LA Clippers, likely a tactical negotiation move since both sides were dug in on their stances.
Due to a wrinkle in the new collective bargaining unit, Bridges and the Hornets had more time to hash out a contract in advance of the unrestricted free agent hitting the open market when the NBA’s new league year began on July 1.
However, nothing substantial materialized, despite Hornets vice president of basketball operations Jeff Peterson making it clear how much the organization wanted Bridges in the fold.
But things finally gathered steam just as the league’s moratorium on player movement ended on Saturday, bringing a conclusion to a stalemate dating to last summer, when Bridges surprised many by betting on himself and signing a one-year, $7.9 million qualifying offer after not playing in 2022-23 because of his legal issues.
Bertans, McGowens among players waived
Coming to terms with Bridges was only one of several moves executed by Peterson on Saturday. The Hornets waived Davis Bertans, Bryce McGowens and Aleksej Pokuševski, league sources told The Observer, creating more cap space to utilize in Peterson’s first offseason.
Peterson also acquired someone Hornets fans are familiar with, although he won’t be sticking around: Devonte’ Graham. San Antonio is sending Graham — who spent three seasons with the Hornets and went to New Orleans in a sign-and-trade in 2021 — and a second-round pick to Charlotte.
Graham’s $2.8 million salary is being taken into cap space, and the Hornets will waive him, making him a free agent.
So far, Peterson has amassed four second-round picks in just over two weeks, led by the three he collected from Denver for taking Reggie Jackson’s $7.25 million contract. He’s gathering up plenty of assets for minimal value, showing off a penchant for making shrewd economical decisions even though it’s his first offseason at the helm.
This story is will be updated.
This story was originally published July 6, 2024 at 4:07 PM.
