Miles Bridges to re-sign with the Charlotte Hornets – At The Hive

Miles Bridges will re-sign with the Charlotte Hornets, according to both Shams and Woj.

Miles Bridges has agreed to a three-year, $75 million deal to return to the Hornets, per Klutch Sports CEO Rich Paul and agent Brandon Cavanaugh. https://t.co/gScH43oar9

— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) July 6, 2024

No options on deal. Bridges’ agent Rich Paul of @KlutchSports finalized a deal with Hornets’ front office today to bring Bridges back with a core of LaMelo Ball and Brandon Miller. https://t.co/spKnYZReRs

— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) July 6, 2024

The deal is for three years and $75 million total. As Woj notes, it’s a straight three year deal with no options.

Bridges has spent the first five seasons of his NBA career with the Hornets, showing improvement each year. He missed the 2022-23 season due to a domestic abuse arrest, but the Hornets elected to hang onto him as the legal process played. He still has probation terms to abide by but has thus far abided by those terms. He and the Hornets both openly spoke about mutual interest in continuing the partnership, and that has come to fruition.

He averaged career highs in points (21.0) and rebounds (7.3) per game in 2023-24, but those numbers felt empty on a team that was losing just about every game before a trade deadline roster shakeup.

The organization is betting that those empty numbers were a product of Bridges trying to get his feel for organized basketball back while playing in a bad situation both schematically and personnel-wise. They’re betting on getting the version of Bridges that closed out the 2021-22 season as the Hornets made a late season push for the play-in tournament with Bridges leading the way. A fresh voice in new head coach Charles Lee might be just what the Hornets need to get the best out of Bridges, whose talent is undeniable.

Bridges will likely slot into his usual spot in the starting lineup along with LaMelo Ball, Brandon Miller, Mark Williams, and a player to be figured out later.

Bridges’ continued presence on the roster will surely be a sore spot for some, which is understandable given what’s he did a couple of summers ago. The Hornets have elected to move past that, and hopefully that risk pays off for them, both on the court and on a personal level. At the very least, we’ve got some closure on the “will he stay or will he go” drama that’s hovered over the organization for two years now.

The deal is a very fair one relative to Bridges’ talent level and production on the court. The off court problems have made his valuation murkier. Now he’ll be a Hornet for at least a few more years. Hopefully he can stay out of trouble and rebuild his reputation as much as he can.