Welcome back to The Butterfly Effect โ something likeโฆ
So far weโve discussed the trades of Anfernee Hardaway and Stephon Marbury to the Knicks, which freed up cap space for Steve Nash, as well as Steve Nashโs departure to the Lakers.
Weโre not done with Nash-related topics this time, although weโre moving a little further away from him. This week I want to discuss Mikal Bridges. As weโve already discussed, the Suns acquired Mikal as a result of Nashโs trade to Los Angeles:
July 11, 2012 โ Beginning
Los Angeles Lakers Trade:
- 2013 1st round draft pick (Nemanja Nedovic)
- 2018 1st round draft pick (Mikal Bridges)
- 2013 2nd round draft pick (Alex Oriahi)
- 2014 2nd round draft pick (Johnny OโBryant)
On February 19, 2015, Mikal Bridges would be traded to the Philadelphia 76ers as part of a three-team trade for Brandon Knight from the Milwaukee Bucks.
So far, weโve been trying to get the total value of the trades the Suns have made on the court to see if they were worth it or not. This week I want to do something different. This week I want to take an excuse to take a short trip through the entire career of one of my all-time favorite Suns and NBA champion Mikal Bridges.
So, we are abandoning the rules of the Butterfly Effect for a week. Letโs talk about Mikalโs career trades and performances and their impact on the Phoenix Suns.
June 21, 2018 โ โHometown Heroโ, โDraft Nightโ
The child of single mother Philadelphia native Mikal Bridges sits in the green room during the NBA draft. The Ringer ranked him as the 10th best prospect in the draft. Sports Illustrated and ESPN mocked him as the 10th overall pick in the draft. Everyone seems to agree. The tenth pick in the draft should be Mikal Bridges.
And what a perfect match that would be. Because the 10th overall pick in this yearโs draft belongs to none other than Bridgesโ hometown Philadelphia 76ers.
Now the 76ers donโt do that. need Mikal Bridges. They are coming off a 52-win 2018 campaign in which Dario Saric and Robert Covington played well as the forward duo between Ben Simmons and Joel Embiid. In fact, only Simmons has played more games than that duo for the 76ers this season.
Covington was particularly impressive, finishing 8th in Defensive Player of the Year voting and making First Team All-Defensive in 2018. He has fully risen to the ranks of a superstar role player.
In some ways, Mikal Bridges may be the odd man out on this roster. He was compared to Robert Covington as the No. 1 overall pick in the 2018 Ringer draft.
But that doesnโt change the fact that Bridges is currently one of Philadelphiaโs favorite sons.
Just two months earlier, Mikal was the second leading scorer in the NCAA National Championship game. Along with fellow future NBA players Jalen Brunson, Donte DiVincenzo, Eric Paschall and Collin Gillespie, he beat the University of Michigan 79โ62. No small feat considering Michigan also had several future NBA players on the team, including future Phoenix Sun Isaiah Livers.
Bridges, of course, got that great win at Philadelphiaโs Villanova University.
Getty Images
While Bridges likely isnโt destined to win MVP and therefore doesnโt have the aura level of hometown hero Derrick Rose in Chicago or LeBron James in Cleveland, heโs still a champion in Philadelphia and available whenever the 76ers are on the clock at the No. 10 pick.
Bridges and his mother celebrated in the green room. Her son was going to stay in their hometown. Mikalโs mother, by the way, worked in the personnel department of the Philadelphia 76ers. The Philadelphia connection seemed never to end.
But Mikal wonโt stay home: Heโll be traded to the Philadelphia 76ers for Zhaire Smith and a 2021 draft pick. In case you were wondering, that choice ended up being Tre Mann.
With a professional face, Mikal expressed his disappointment at being sent by his hometown team.
Years later, Andre Iguodala Point forward podcast, Mikal was a little more honest about how he felt on draft night.
โI got angry. I couldnโt control my emotions. After everyone left, Iโm in my hotel room, like, holy crap.โ
But Mikal still came to Phoenix. Even though Mikal later said that Booker was about the only thing he knew about the Suns, Mikal packed his bags and headed to the Valley, where he became a fan favorite.
Mikal settled into the Suns organization. In his rookie season, he averaged 8 points, 3 rebounds and 2 assists per game. His second season was not much more impressive, although it did bring an increase in efficiency.
In his third season in the NBA (2020-21), Bridges has become a popular name. Increasing his scoring to 13 points per game and continuing to be an excellent defender, he helped the Phoenix Suns reach the NBA Finals as a key member of the starting lineup.
A proven winner and true iron man, Bridges played all 22 playoff games for the Suns that year. He played a key role in the Sunsโ Game 2 victory over the Bucks in the NBA Finals, scoring 27 points along with Devin Bookerโs 31 points to take a 2โ0 lead.
Itโs hard to overstate how much Mikal Bridges was loved in Phoenix. There were times when Suns Twitter and Reddit were filled with people posting nothing more than his name, raving about a great game here or there.
While I canโt find the original tweet from earlier in the decade, Mike Vigil of The Timeline Podcast returned to the trend during this yearโs finale.
2023-2024 โ Central location
When Mikal Bridges was traded to the Brooklyn Nets as the center (along with Cam Johnson and all players known or unknown) in the Kevin Durant trade, he averaged 17 points per game and finished the 2021-22 season ranked second in the DPOY race.
Getty Images
Many fans were excited about Durantโs arrival in Phoenix. Every fan was sad to see Bridges go.
In Brooklyn, Mikal shone. In his two years with the Nets, he averaged 21 points per game with consistent, albeit lower-than-usual, efficiency. He wasnโt a superstar. He was a very talented guy playing a role that wasnโt his and still doing well.
While I and most Suns fans were happy to see him succeed on the East Coast, the Sunsโ failures during the Durant era left many buyers remorseful.
It always seemed like Mikal belonged to Phoenix in a way Kevin Durant never did.
In July 2024, the Brooklyn Nets traded Mikal Bridges to the New York Knicks for four unprotected first-round picks, one protected first-round pick, a trade of a first-round pick, a second-round pick and some additional salary.
It was a gross overpayment. In my opinion, one of them was exacerbated by how many picks the Nets received when they traded for Bridges.
If you count the first round picks the Nets received in the KD trade, as well as the first round picks the Nets received when they traded Bridges and Johnson in the KD deal, you count eleven first round draft picks. The Nets traded for Kevin Durant and got back eleven first-round draft picks when it was all said and done.
But the deal went through. Mikal Bridges will join former Villanova teammates Brunson, DiVincenzo and Josh Hart. The Nova Knicks were born.
Fast forward to today, the Nova Knicks are champions (minus DiVincenzo, who spent the last couple of seasons in Minnesota).
Iโve never been interested in big cities on the coast. I love rooting for anything in Los Angeles or New York. But I couldnโt help but root for the Knicks during the playoffs when the Suns got eliminated. I wanted Mikal to achieve what the Suns needed to achieve in 2021.
Mikal Bridges has achieved many successes in his career. Hometown hero, warden, central character, and now champion. For me it will always be an all-time favorite.