Young star Miles Bridges doesn’t want to leave the Hornets.
As he said in a chat with the media, he’d love to return and continue building upon what he and LaMelo started two years ago. The Michigan-born swingman is set to become a restricted free agent this summer.
“I would love to come back for sure. I don’t worry about that, I’ll let my agent worry about that. Any questions on that you gotta hit up Rich Paul,” the 24-year-old said during his Thursday exit interview. “I would love to play with [LaMelo Ball] and Terry [Rozier] for the rest of my career. We all damn near averaged 20 points this season. I’m happy to be a part of this.”
In Charlotte, Miles Bridges is putting the world on notice. After getting drafted 12th overall in 2018, he has emerged as a major player for Charlotte and a borderline All-Star. In 80 games this season, he averaged 20.2 points, 7 rebounds, and 3.8 assists per game on 49% shooting.
As noted by Bleacher Report earlier this week, the young stud could earn roughly $173 million this offseason.
Bridges is clearly the present and future wing Charlotte wants to develop alongside Ball. After Bridges’ camp declined a four-year, $60 million contract offer last fall, sources confirmed, he is expected to command a maximum salary that could total five years, $173 million this summer. League personnel believe the Hornets will match any offer sheet for Bridges. That could either dissuade teams from making an earnest attempt at signing him, unnecessarily tying their hands for 48 hours. Or it may encourage a rival suitor to force Charlotte to pay his full max, as the Brooklyn Nets once did with Washington and Otto Porter.
It’s a no-brainer for Charlotte to bring him back. He’s a budding star, a running mate to LaMelo Ball, and will likely only get better over the next few years.
For a Hornets team that has struggled to make any kind of traction in the East, they can’t afford to lose out on a guy like Bridges.
Fortunately, he’ll be easy enough to keep if they really want him to stick around.
