Phoenix just added a real scorer at a bargain price. The Suns are acquiring Miles Bridges from the Charlotte Hornets in a trade that also brings back a 2029 first round pick and a 2027 second, with Grayson Allen, Royce O’Neale, and a 2033 unprotected first heading to Charlotte.
Bridges is 28, coming off a season where he averaged 17.1 points, 5.8 rebounds, and 3.2 assists on 46 percent shooting across 77 games. He is on the last year of his deal at $22.8 million and is extension eligible this offseason. The Suns just got a real starting forward who fits their current roster construction, and they did it while shedding roughly $20 million in luxury tax.
The tax savings are the whole reason this deal makes sense for Phoenix on paper. Getting rid of Allen and O’Neale sheds real money. Adding Bridges brings the salary right back, but the Suns free up a roster spot heading into the rest of free agency, and they get out from under Allen’s contract that had become tough to move.
The basketball fit is real too. Bridges gives the Suns a second true scorer who can operate without needing the ball in his hands. Devin Booker and Kevin Durant do not need another primary usage guy. They need shooters who can hit tough shots when the defense collapses. Bridges is that. He has always been able to score at every level, and he can guard multiple positions.
Charlotte gets the more interesting long term win. Adding an unprotected first in 2033 to a rebuild already flush with picks is a real coup. Royce O’Neale is a legitimate NBA rotation player who averaged 9.8 points on 40.8 percent from deep last season. He gives the Hornets a proven veteran shooter to play alongside their young core. Grayson Allen is a shooter and a locker room voice on a rebuilding team that badly needs both.
The Bridges trade is also the second big move Charlotte has made in three days. The Hornets already sent All-Star guard LaMelo Ball to the Minnesota Timberwolves earlier in the week. Two franchise faces gone in less than a week. Charlotte is officially in a full rebuild, and the picks they have piled up will define the next five years of the franchise.
Bridges’ history with the Hornets is complicated. He was suspended for the 2022-23 season after a domestic violence conviction, and Charlotte still brought him back on a one year deal in 2023. His on court production has always been there when he plays. His off court story is what limited his market. The Suns are now betting that stability off the floor is real and that his production will translate to a contender.
Phoenix is entering must win mode with Booker and Durant. Both are aging, both are expensive, and both are on a roster with less depth than any team hoping to win a title should tolerate. Adding Bridges is a real jolt to the rotation, and the salary savings give the Suns flexibility to add one more piece before the season starts.
The moratorium period ends July 6, which is when the trade becomes official. Bridges is going to be sitting in a Suns uniform when he takes the floor next season, and the fit around Booker and Durant is going to be tested immediately.
For the Hornets, this is confirmation that the rebuild is real and long. Two All-Star caliber players out in a week. A stack of first round picks in return. Charlotte fans have watched this movie before, and the hope is that the front office actually cashes the picks in on the right prospects this time.
A longtime sports reporter, Carlos Garcia has written about some of the biggest and most notable athletic events of the last 5 years. He has been credentialed to cover MLS, NBA and MLB games all over the United States. His work has been published on Fox Sports, Bleacher Report, AOL and the Washington Post.
