Suns trade Grayson Allen, Royce O'Neale for Miles Bridges

[Mori Chu]

[Charania]BREAKING: The Charlotte Hornets are trading Miles Bridges, a 2029 first-round pick and a 2027 second-round pick to the Phoenix Suns for Grayson Allen, Royce O'Neale and a 2033 first-round pick, sources tell ESPN.

[Wally_West]

This gets under the 1st apron too, right? We have the full MLE now?

[virtual9mm]

Whoa. There it goes. And now...logjam at PF? Character issues?

[Mori Chu]

Wow. Huge trade. Quick reaction: Bridges is much better than any of our PFs from last season. Last season he averaged 17.1 ppg on .460/.333/.822 splits, 5.8 reb, and 3.2 ast in 31 minutes/game. He averaged over 20 ppg in several recent seasons but had a bit of a dip last year. Wish his FG% was higher, that's a bit inefficient, but oh well.

https://www.basketball-reference.com/pl ... gmi02.html

Off the court, Miles Bridges has some very troubling behavior in his past. In 2022/23 he was arrested for beating up his ex-girlfriend and the mother of his child. He pled no contest. From the article:

Following an alleged assault of his former girlfriend and the mother of his two children in front of them, Bridges was taken into custody by authorities in Los Angeles. He was later released after posting a $30,000 bond. He was sentenced to three years of probation and no jail time. Then in the fall of 2023 he was charged again, this time for allegedly threatening his former girlfriend and damaging her car while their children were in the car. Bridges threw pool balls at the car, smashing the windshield and denting the windows. His current girlfriend also kicked the car. Bridges is also accused of telling his former girlfriend that, if she told the police about the incident, he would withhold child support money.

https://www.cbssports.com/nba/news/mile ... s-forward/

We have been linked to Bridges in the past, and I have always expressed discomfort at bringing in a person with such troubling character issues to our team. Grayson Allen and Royce O'Neale were undeniably nice/good guys. Grayson had some on-court roughness in his past but was a consummate gentleman for us and seems to have learned from it. Royce was a great teammate and locker room guy. It is concerning to bring in a guy with such a past to our otherwise high character organization. I hope Ishbia and the team take it seriously and think about how to protect the character and culture of our team.

Side note: It seems like we have Charlotte's front office on speed dial. How many trades have we made with them now in the Ishbia era?

Another side note: We just traded our 2033 1st round pick to get this deal done. I know we got one back in 2029, but, by 2033 Booker will either be off the team or an old man. That pick is going to be valuable. Yet again we send a valuable future 1st out the window almost as soon as we're able to spend it. This FO doesn't seem to be learning its lesson at all about valuing future picks.

[Ring_Wanted]

Can't say I would have done this with the '33 pick in there, even without knowing details about any protections (hopefully). For Green, sure.

On the bright side, this adds short term flexibilily as puts us under the first apron and Bridges is an expiring contract. But I don't like the value or even the target that much as I'd rather play Fleming and Koa, keep my assets and try to find a better opportunity/fit (a starting caliber point guard, actually).

[iLLmatic]

I’m not gonna lie I’m pretty bummed to see Grayson to go, he was one of the lone playmakers on the team not named Booker.

[Mori Chu]

Ugh, Bridges is expiring, too? So he could walk after this season, and/or we're going to have to re-sign him to a big contract if he has a good season? Hmm. Concerning. I bet next summer will be challenging.

[Furlanfufi]

Mods, please delete the other thread I created!

Basketball wise it makes sense, but I don't know many who want Bridges here.

[Ring_Wanted]

Bridges went to Michigan State btw

[Charlie Smithy!]

I...am whelmed

[Wally_West]

Ooof

[Ring_Wanted]

Insane move if the 2033 pick is unprotected.

[Charlie Smithy!]

Insane move if the 2033 pick is unprotected.

My whelmage just moved to underwhelmed

[virtual9mm]

Without the pick, character issues aside, not a bad trade. With the pick...

[Ring_Wanted]

Without the pick, character issues aside, not a bad trade. With the pick...

Exactly. Just leave the picks out and it is an ok move for both teams. CHA was done with Bridges regardless, and we for sure needed to do something about the guard logjam.

[virtual9mm]

Without the pick, character issues aside, not a bad trade. With the pick...

Exactly. Just leave the picks out and it is an ok move for both teams. CHA was done with Bridges regardless, and we for sure needed to do something about the guard logjam.

Almost as if Ishbia wants to make sure the Suns never have a lottery pick, committing to building with one. Brilliance or lunacy I don't know. But the Suns pretty much will never tank.

[Wally_West]

We are gonna sign Shamet!!! Watch lol

[ShelC]

I like the idea of the player, not the player. I don't like that we keep taking players from Charlotte, which wasn't any good when they had said players. The Mich St connection and, of course, being a Klutch client adds more layers to this.

Also....do we have enough shooting now? I wanted Allen and/or Grayson gone for a PF but did we swing too far the other way now? Gambo says we'll add shooting via FA (Dean Wade?), so we'll have to see.

So much for the talk abut culture and continuity?

[Ring_Wanted]

Without the pick, character issues aside, not a bad trade. With the pick...

Exactly. Just leave the picks out and it is an ok move for both teams. CHA was done with Bridges regardless, and we for sure needed to do something about the guard logjam.

Almost as if Ishbia wants to make sure the Suns never have a lottery pick, committing to building with one. Brilliance or lunacy I don't know. But the Suns pretty much will never tank.

The lottery changes help us in this regard but yeah, even if you don't believe in tanking, handing out unprotected picks that far out is just bad business.

[Wally_West]