Miles Bridges entered the 2025-26 season playing some of the most impactful basketball of his career. He is averaging 21.7 points, 6.1 rebounds, and 3.5 assists per game while carrying a massive share of Charlotte’s offense.
The Hornets are sitting at 6-15, and the organization looks fully committed to a long rebuild built around Brandon Miller and rookie sensation Kon Knueppel. In that context, Bridges feels more like a short-term luxury than a long-term pillar.
His three-year, $75 million contract adds another layer to the situation because it gives Charlotte both cost certainty and a valuable salary slot if the front office decides to reshape the roster.
This mix of age, production, and contract structure is exactly why his name resurfaced in leaguewide trade rumors over the past week. At 27 years old, Bridges fits multiple systems and has stayed available in a season where the Hornets desperately need bodies.
All of that turns him into one of the most intriguing swing pieces on the market. Several franchises stand out as realistic and potentially high-impact landing spots.
1. Chicago Bulls
Proposed Trade Details
Chicago Bulls Receive: Miles Bridges
Charlotte Hornets Receive: Nikola Vucevic, Dalen Terry, 2026 first-round pick (via POR)
The Chicago Bulls are stuck in the messy middle again. They sit at 9-11, 10th in the Eastern Conference, hovering around the play-in line instead of making any real push upward. Their profile is exactly what you would expect from a team that cannot quite decide if it is rebuilding or competing. Chicago owns an offensive rating around 114.8, which places them 16th in the league, and a -3.1 net rating that reflects a team good enough to stay in games but not good enough to consistently close them.
Josh Giddey has been the central engine of everything they do. The 23-year-old guard is averaging 20.6 points, 9.9 rebounds, and 9.1 assists per game, flirting with a triple-double on a nightly basis while ranking near the top of the league in playmaking. He dictates tempo, lives in the paint, and creates a ton of open looks. What Chicago does not have is a forward who can consistently convert those advantages into high-level scoring, pressure the rim, and provide a real two-way punch from the wing.
That is where Miles Bridges fits perfectly. Bridges is carrying a huge offensive load for a team that is just 6-15 and already looks like a lottery lock. He is on a three-year, $75 million contract with two seasons left, which gives any team cost certainty without the full commitment that usually comes with this level of production. At 27, Bridges is right in the middle of his prime and lines up cleanly with Giddey’s timeline.
Offensively, the fit is almost too obvious. The Bulls sit in the middle of the pack in terms of offensive efficiency and badly need more rim pressure and finishing. Bridges can play the three or the four, run in transition, finish as a lob target, and bully smaller defenders on switches. Giddey’s 9.1 assists per game are not just empty numbers; they represent a creator who constantly puts teammates in positions to score.
From Charlotte’s side, the logic is simple. They are 6-15, 12th in the East, and drifting toward a full rebuild around Brandon Miller and their recent draft picks. In this deal, they receive Nikola Vucevic, who is averaging 16.6 points, 9.8 rebounds, and 3.6 assists on 50 percent shooting from the field. Vucevic is on an expiring $21 million contract that can either stabilize their center position for a season or be flipped again at the deadline. Dalen Terry gives them a young, long wing with defensive upside, and the 2026 first-round pick via Portland adds another future asset to a team that clearly needs more bites at the apple.
Salary-wise, the numbers line up cleanly. Bridges’ annual $25 million slot inside his $75 million deal is matched by Vucevic’s money plus Terry, and Charlotte escapes a longer commitment in exchange for flexibility and a pick.
For Chicago, this is not a home-run superstar swing, but it is exactly the kind of aggressive, realistic move a team in their position should be making. They add a legitimate two-way forward who can scale up next to Giddey, dramatically raise their offensive ceiling, and give them a real identity in the frontcourt.
For Charlotte, it is a pragmatic exit that trades a good player who does not fit their timeline for flexibility, a quality veteran big, and a future first.
If the Bulls actually want to move out of no man’s land, betting on Bridges alongside a near triple-double version of Giddey is a far cleaner path than praying for Anthony Davis’ health or waiting for a star that is never hitting the market.
2. New Orleans Pelicans
Proposed Trade Details
New Orleans Pelicans Receive: Miles Bridges
Charlotte Hornets Receive: Dejounte Murray, 2027 first-round pick (via MIL)
The Pelicans are in survival mode. At 3-19, dead last in the Western Conference, they’ve been hit with one of the worst early-season spirals in franchise history. Zion Williamson is sidelined again with a right adductor injury, and the team announced he will be re-evaluated in three weeks. Without him, the offense has cratered, the spacing collapsed, and the roster looks overwhelmed by the constant pressure of having to generate scoring without their franchise centerpiece.
Dejounte Murray was supposed to stabilize things, but his torn Achilles recovery slowed the experiment. He is expected to return soon, yet no one inside the league knows what version of Murray the Pelicans will get. Before the injury, he averaged 17.5 points, 7.4 assists, and 6.5 rebounds in 31 games last season, as he fractured his hand on his Pelicans season debut. Again, durability concerns are real. New Orleans needs help now. They cannot wait for Murray to fully rediscover his rhythm, not when they already owe their 2026 first-round pick to Atlanta in the Derick Queen trade and cannot afford for that selection to land in the top five. A lost season becomes a disaster if the Pelicans gift the Hawks a premium pick.
That’s why Miles Bridges becomes a realistic swing. Murray fits the Hornets’ defensive needs more cleanly. Charlotte desperately needs perimeter integrity, ranking 24th in the league, and Murray is still one of the league’s better point-of-attack defenders when healthy.
Pairing him with LaMelo finally gives the Hornets a guard who can absorb tough assignments, organize the offense, and bring physicality to a backcourt that has been too soft for years.
For New Orleans, Bridges is the archetype they lack while Zion recovers. Trey Murphy has stepped into a bigger role, averaging 20.4 points, 4.1 rebounds, and 1.9 assists, but he is not wired to consistently self-create under pressure. Bridges is. He’s a downhill scorer, a strong finisher, and a player who can carry possessions when the offense gets stuck. His $25 million deal is manageable, especially compared to star-level contracts, and adding him gives the Pelicans a legitimate 20-point wing who can play through contact and keep them competitive during this brutal stretch.
The risk is obvious. New Orleans would be giving up Murray before seeing him fully healthy and attaching a 2027 first-round pick to get it done. But the Pelicans have reached a point where doing nothing is more dangerous than making a calculated push. Their season is slipping away, Zion is out, and the standings are unforgiving with their draft obligations looming.
If Bridges holds his level and Zion eventually returns, the Pelicans suddenly have a dynamic scoring trio instead of a one-man burden. If he doesn’t, the gamble burns them, but the alternative is watching this season spiral into a catastrophe they cannot afford.
3. Los Angeles Clippers
Proposed Trade Details
Los Angeles Clippers Receive: Miles Bridges
Charlotte Hornets Receive: John Collins, 2032 first-round pick (via LAC)
The Clippers are spiraling. At 5-16, they sit 14th in the Western Conference with an offense that never found rhythm and a defense that keeps breaking at the seams. The situation grew even more chaotic today when the team officially released Chris Paul, a move that signals they are ready to reshuffle the deck and search for any spark that can lift them out of this collapse. It reflects a front office that knows the current formula is dead and that immediate roster changes are unavoidable.
John Collins has been one of the few stable pieces on the roster, averaging 11.9 points and 4.9 rebounds while shooting 49.7 percent from the field. He remains an efficient finisher and a spacing-friendly forward, but he has not moved the needle for a Clippers team that desperately lacks physical scoring wings and any sort of downhill threat. Collins is solid but not transformative, and Los Angeles needs something closer to a real catalyst if they want to start climbing out of the hole they dug.
Miles Bridges fits that description much more naturally. Bridges brings explosive rim finishing, self-creation, rebounding, and enough shooting to coexist with ball-dominant guards like James Harden and Kawhi Leonard. The Clippers lack exactly that type of two-way forward who can score without needing plays spoon-fed to him.
The Clippers would be sending out Collins along with a 2032 first-round pick. It is a distant asset, but it still carries weight for a Hornets franchise that is collecting long-term capital. Collins gives Charlotte a competent big man who can stabilize lineups and who still has trade value if they choose to move him later.
For Los Angeles, this is a gamble that reflects urgency. Releasing Chris Paul created an immediate hole in leadership and structure, but it also opened a window to reshape the roster around players who can actually produce at a high level today. Bridges gives them a 20-point scorer on the wing, a position where they have been inconsistent all season, and someone who can help lighten the burden on both stars.
It is not a perfect trade, and it does not magically fix everything that is broken in Los Angeles, but it is the kind of move that at least gives the Clippers a jolt of athleticism and scoring at a moment when their season is slipping away. After letting Paul go, doing nothing is no longer an option. Adding Bridges is the kind of aggressive bet that matches the desperation of their situation.
4. Brooklyn Nets
Proposed Trade Details
Brooklyn Nets Receive: Miles Bridges
Charlotte Hornets Receive: Terance Mann, Ziaire Williams, Noah Clowney, 2032 first-round pick (via BKN)
The Brooklyn Nets are running out of runway. At 4-16, sitting 13th in the Eastern Conference, they look nothing like a team capable of sustaining competitiveness through the winter. Their defense has cratered to one of the worst in the league at 29th in defensive rating, and they rank near the bottom in rim protection, rebounding security, and opponent field-goal efficiency. Every game becomes the same story: a promising stretch of offense followed by defensive collapses that erase it immediately.
What keeps Brooklyn afloat offensively is the emergence of a legitimate one-two scoring punch. Michael Porter Jr. is playing the best basketball of his career, averaging 24.9 points, 7.4 rebounds, and 3.1 assists in 17 games while shooting an impressive 48.7 percent from the field and knocking down 3.4 threes per night on high volume.
Cam Thomas adds another dynamic layer, putting up 21.4 points per game while hitting 35.6 percent from three. Even when the Nets go cold, Thomas is the one player capable of generating a bucket out of nothing.
But Brooklyn still lacks a physical, aggressive forward who can pressure the rim, clean the glass, defend up a position, and give their offense a downhill gear. That is where Miles Bridges comes in. He provides exactly what the Nets do not have: a bruising wing-finisher who forces switches, attacks closeouts at full speed, rebounds on both ends, and holds his own defensively.
Pairing Bridges with Porter Jr. and Thomas would reshape Brooklyn’s offensive identity instantly. MPJ provides elite perimeter spacing, Thomas delivers high-volume self-creation, and Bridges brings the slashing force that Brooklyn currently lacks. The Nets are too reliant on jump shooting, and Bridges would give them an interior presence without sacrificing spacing. He is strong enough to play small-ball four, quick enough to handle wings, and productive enough to keep defenses honest.
For Charlotte, the appeal is clear. They receive Terance Mann, a reliable two-way guard who plays with energy and discipline; Ziaire Williams, a long wing still developing his shooting and defensive instincts; Noah Clowney, a young big with mobility and upside; and a 2032 first-round pick that deepens their future asset pool. For a franchise that sits 6-15 with no clear long-term formula, prioritizing picks and young talent over a veteran scorer makes logical sense.
Brooklyn, meanwhile, needs a shift. They cannot tank with no guaranteed ownership of their future draft trajectory, and they cannot keep losing games by surrendering 125-plus points every night. Adding Bridges would not magically fix the defense, but it would diversify their offense, stabilize their forward rotation, and create a scoring trio that could at least drag them into respectability while their rookie guards develop.
