Miles Bridges subject of multiple NBA trade rumors, but: ‘I want to stay with the Hornets’

Miles Bridges isn’t impervious to the noise.

With Terry Rozier off to Miami and the Charlotte Hornets openly seeking to move another player or two for assets, Bridges’ name keeps coming up in various reports. But as the chatter gets louder with each day leading up to the NBA trade deadline on Feb. 8, the forward just shrugs at the outside noise.

“It doesn’t really bother me,” Bridges said Friday. “I don’t pay attention to what people are saying. I’ve been criticized for the last year and a half now, so trade talk is the least of my worries. So I just go out there and try to play my best every game, bring it all out there on the floor and that’s all I worry about.”

Bridges, who posted 21 points and seven rebounds in the Hornets’ 138-104 loss to Houston on Friday at Spectrum Center, holds the upper hand since he has the ability to veto a trade. It’s one of the contractual stipulations associated with the one-year, $7.9 million tender he signed in July, rather than inking a long-term deal.

Still, rumors continue to churn, including the latest indicating the Phoenix Suns’ reported interest. But Bridges has only one preferred destination. And it’s not the desert. Nor in the Midwest near Lake Michigan.

“Like I said before, the Hornets have been behind me and I want to stay here,” Bridges told the Observer. “I want to be here and that’s never going to change. So as much talk as people hear that’s going around, just know that I want to stay with the Hornets.”

Bridges’ return to the NBA

When Bridges played in a game for the Hornets on Nov. 17, it was his first NBA action in 588 days. He sat out the 2022-23 season after pleading no contest to a felony domestic violence charge of injuring a child’s parent and being sentenced to three years of probation without jail time.

Bridges also received a 30-day NBA suspension. He was credited with “time served” for 20 games at the end of the 2022-23 season, and had to miss the Hornets’ first 10 games this season.

Through 32 games, Bridges is averaging 20.8 points, 7.1 rebounds and 2.9 assists in 37 minutes per game and has been one of the Hornets’ top weapons.

“(Shoot) Miles is, what, 20.6 (points) a night,” coach Steve Clifford said. “He’s super consistent. He plays every night, he plays huge minutes, he guards primary scorers. I mean, I’m not sure we can expect him to do a lot more than he’s doing.

“I think really what we need from him is what he’s been doing. There’s not many guys doing what he’s doing right now as an all-around game, plus he plays every possession. His energy level and just natural competitive spirit is through the roof.”

He’s also doing it with more legal action on the horizon.

Bridges’ pending court case, which involves an alleged violation of a domestic violence protective order, was continued for three months the Monday prior to his season debut in November, and at the time a new court date of Feb. 20 was set.

Hornets must ‘refocus’

Bridges insists he’s not ready to move and enjoys being alongside good buddy LaMelo Ball and the Hornets’ prized draft pick, Brandon Miller. He prefers not to go the way of the guy who was the third member of their “Three Amigos” style and be sent to another locale.

The past couple of days have been tough enough for Bridges, knowing Rozier didn’t return home with the Hornets following their two-city trip. Their matchup against the Rockets was their first home game since Rozier got traded.

“I played with Terry for four years and it’s been more of a brotherhood for me and him,” Bridges said. “He’s been my brother, somebody I really look up to. I’m sad about it. At the same time, I’m happy for him. He’s playing on that stage and that’s where he’s the best. I want him to win with us, but I’m happy to see him with another team. He looks happy and that’s all that matters.”

Rozier was the heart and soul of the Hornets, playing through injuries and setting an example for the younger players behind the scenes. He was the unquestioned voice in the locker room, often taking the biggest responsibilities without complaint.

And if he was around for the debacle against the Rockets, when the Hornets watched Houston can 30 of 40 second-half attempts, he definitely wouldn’t have been ticked off. Things were that bad.

“We’ve just got to focus on ourselves,” Bridges said, “focus on getting better every day, blocking out the outside noise and just playing.”

Can’t that be a difficult task at this point on the NBA calendar when trade speculation runs rampant?

“Yeah, it’s tough for some people,” Bridges said. “It’s not really tough for me. I don’t really listen to the noise or anything. It might be tough for other people, but we’ve just got to focus on ourselves. Control what we control.”

This is twice in three days where the Hornets didn’t have the proper intensity and mentality, though. They also sorely missed Rozier’s presence in their loss to lowly Detroit, allowing the Pistons to beat them for the second time this season. Detroit has only five wins and is a few weeks removed from an NBA-record 28-game losing streak.

“Yeah, we’ve got to get refocused,” Bridges said. “If we have Terry that game, we win and the easy mistakes, we fix that we win that game. We took a big step forward with the Minnesota game and took two steps back with the Detroit game.”

That’s where it’s going to be important for the Hornets to fill in those gaps created by Rozier’s departure. While replacing his career-best scoring punch is going to be a chore, there’s also another huge void that has to be plugged. And Bridges is volunteering for duty.

“I feel like (it’s) me being a leader on the team, Melo stepping up to be a leader,” Bridges said, “Melo’s been working on being more vocal and obviously he’s the best player on the team. And that comes with being a leader. So as long as he learns how to do that we’ll be good.”

The transition could have some peaks and valleys. Especially when something crops up, the Hornets look over at where Rozier used to be, and he’s not there to impart some wisdom or crack a joke to lighten the mood.

This isn’t what Bridges and the Hornets envisioned when they began training camp with so much promise, expecting to finally snap the league’s longest playoff drought.

“It definitely hurts,” Bridges said. “At the same time we’ve got to continue to move forward. Melo, me, Brandon, we’ve got to do a good job of winning us games. Without Terry we are going to have to step up and be leaders. That’s what we are going to have to do.”