Tag: Mikal Bridges

Trade rumors rankings: LeBron James, Dejounte Murray and more

HoopsHype ranks the 16 players who have appeared most often in trade rumors over the previous week, including LeBron James himself.

With the trade deadline now less than a week away, rumors in the NBA world are heating up more and more. Most recently, we saw the Memphis Grizzlies and Houston Rockets agree to a swap of injured players, Victor Oladipo and Steven Adams, a trade that has the future in mind for both clubs.

Today, instead of our usual ranking of five or 10 players, we’re going to rank the 16 players who have appeared most often in trade rumors over the previous week as judged by appearances on our Trade Rumors page.

With so many names and so much scuttle to get through, let’s get right into the action.

Brooklyn Nets have no All-Stars for 2023-24 season

The NBA announced on Thursday that the Brooklyn Nets have no All-Star selections for the 2023-24 season.

The Brooklyn Nets are looking to turn around their season so that they can get back into the Eastern Conference playoff race before it’s too late. As they move forward, they will be doing so without any players who will be going to the All-Star Game in February.

The NBA announced on Thursday who the reserves are for the 2024 NBA All-Star Game that will be played in Indiana on Feb. 18. While Nets guard Mikal Bridges was in the top-10 of the fan voting for the Eastern Conference frontcourt players through most of the rounds, he did fall out of the top-10 in the last round of voting.

No other Net received enough votes to be in the top-10 at any point of the voting so with Bridges not being named to the All-Star Game, that means that no Net will be participating in the event this season. This is disappointing considering that many in the NBA space believed that Bridges could potentially make his first All-Star appearance this season.

This marks the second straight season that no player will represent the Nets in the All-Star Game. To be clear, Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving did make the All-Star Game last season due to their performance with Brooklyn, but at the time of the event, both players were representing their respective teams after being traded at the deadline.

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Report: Nets continue to tell teams Mikal Bridges is unavailable for trade

Michael Scotto of HoopsHype reported on Wednesday that the Brooklyn Nets are telling teams that Mikal Bridges is unavailable in trades.

The Brooklyn Nets are in the middle of a rebuild following the trades of James Harden, Kyrie Irving, and Kevin Durant. While a rebuild can go plenty of ways depending various factors, the Nets are not considering one specific avenue.

Michael Scotto of HoopsHype recently reported on Wednesday that as Brooklyn has navigated the trade market, they continue to tell teams that wing Mikal Bridges is not available in trades. The Nets have made it clear since the trade of Durant brought Bridges to Brooklyn that they want Bridges to be part of the team’s future.

Scotto also reported that the Houston Rockets are one of the teams to have expressed interest in trading for Bridges. Pee Scotto, the Rockets were “prepared to send back several of Brooklyn’s unused remaining draft picks from the James Harden trade” as a show of how much they want Bridges.

However, it looks like the Nets are not willing to deal Bridges for seemingly any return from the sound of various reports. More to the point, Scotto says that “talks never got to that stage (of actual consideration) because the Nets declined to entertain anything for Bridges when Houston inquired.”

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Report: Brooklyn rebuffed Houston’s Mikal Bridges trade inquiry

Per Michael Scotto, Houston was willing to trade Brooklyn some of its future first-round draft capital back for Mikal Bridges, but the Nets weren’t interested.

With the Nets (19-27) mired in mediocrity or worse for a full calendar year, many around the NBA have wondered if Brooklyn might engage the Rockets on a potential trade to reacquire some of the draft capital lost in the January 2021 James Harden trade. As it stands, Houston controls Brooklyn’s first-round assets through 2027.

But if the Nets have interest in such an arrangement, it isn’t strong enough for them to give up 27-year-old wing Mikal Bridges. That’s who Brooklyn acquired in February 2023 as part of the blockbuster trade that sent a disgruntled Kevin Durant to Phoenix.

NBA insider Michael Scotto of HoopsHype has more:

Despite Brooklyn’s recent slide, which has put the Nets on the bubble of the final Play-In Tournament spot with the Hawks, the Nets have continued to tell teams Mikal Bridges is not available, league sources told HoopsHype.

Recently, the Houston Rockets were among the teams to register trade interest in Bridges, league sources told HoopsHype. Houston was prepared to send back several of Brooklyn’s unused remaining draft picks from the James Harden trade, but talks never got to that stage because the Nets declined to entertain anything for Bridges when Houston inquired.

Bridges, 27, is averaging 21.9 points (45.6% FG, 36.4% on 3-pointers), 5.1 rebounds and 3.7 assists per game this season. The 6-foot-6 wing is among Brooklyn’s top defensive players.

Bridges is under contract through the 2025-26 season at a relatively modest price of less than $25 million annually, which could make him a useful bridge as Brooklyn transitions to the post-Durant era.

Of course, another option for the Nets is to bottom out and attempt to acquire elite young talent through high draft picks, which could be possible if Brooklyn re-acquired some of its first-round assets from Houston. As of now, it doesn’t appear they’re willing to go down that road, or at least not at any cost.

The 2023-24 in-season trade deadline is Thursday, Feb. 8.

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Nets’ Mikal Bridges on team’s mentality closing games: ‘try not to think about the past’

After Saturday’s 106-104 win over the Houston Rockets, Brooklyn Nets guard Mikal Bridges said that closing games involves not looking back.

NEW YORK — The Brooklyn Nets have had some trouble closing games lately and that has been a big reason for why they are sliding down the Eastern Conference standings. Like clockwork, the Nets found themselves in a similar situation where they built a big lead only for the game to come down the last few possessions to determine the winner.

“We not try to think about the past,” Brooklyn guard Mikal Bridges said after Saturday’s 106-104 win over the Houston Rockets. The Nets led by many as 28 points in the game after Brooklyn won the first quarter 35-15 thanks to some wonderful plays from players like Bridges. Bridges said that either way, the Nets have to keep going whether they have a lead or not.

“Just try to go out there and keep going,” Bridges explained. “Sometimes, it’s human nature when you’re up a lot just to relax, but it’s the NBA. Being up 28, especially that early, is nothing. man.”

While the Nets were able to pull out the win thanks to some plays that they made along with some instances that went their way, it’s still concerning that Brooklyn was possibly one shot away from losing this game. Until they become better at maintaining leads at any point of the game, the Nets will have fourth quarter execution in the back of their minds.

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Nets’ Mikal Bridges doesn’t think he’ll be an All-Star this season

Brooklyn Nets guard Mikal Bridges recently told Mark Medina of Sportskeeda that he doesn’t think he will be an All-Star this season.

Brooklyn Nets guard Mikal Bridges has had a trying 2023-24 season that has forced him to adapt to being the primary scorer while other teams are actively scheming to limit his offensive production. The results have been below what most expected from him as a lot of people believed that Bridges would continue his play from last season and become an All-Star for the first time in his career.

After averaging 26.1 points, 4.5 rebounds, 2.7 assists, and 1.0 steals per game on 47.5% field-goal shooting and 37.6% from three in 27 regular-season games with the Nets last season, Bridges is averaging 21.7 points, 5.1 rebounds, and 3.8 assists per game on shooting splits of 45.5% from the field and 36% from behind the three-point line.

While he was the primary scoring option for Brooklyn last season following the trades of superstars Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving, Bridges has had more difficulty getting to his sweet spots as it seems that the NBA is more aware of where he thrives on the court. As a result, opposing defenses are being more physical with Bridges with whatever he does given how it is easier to get in Bridges’ way due to his slight frame.

With Bridges’ numbers down across the board from what they were last season, it seems that his chances of being an All-Star have decreased accordingly. Bridges recently had an interview with Mark Medina of Sportskeeda where he expressed that he doesn’t think that he will be one of the players selected for the All-Star game:

“I don’t think so this year. Maybe next year. You have to win and play to the level.”

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Nets’ Mikal Bridges falls outside of top-10 for Eastern Conference fan voting

In the final NBA fan returns released on Thursday, Brooklyn Nets guard Mikal Bridges finished outside of the top-10 in fan All-Star voting.

The Brooklyn Nets have seen their season go from one with playoff aspirations to one where the franchise may have to consider being sellers at the trade deadline. With that being said, it looks like one of the players who had a chance at an All-Star bid may have lost that opportunity.

On Thursday, the NBA announced the final fan returns and the voting results for the 2024 All-Star game. Nets guard Mikal Bridges finished outside of the top-10 in fan voting for Eastern Conference frontcourt players after being towards the back end of the top-10 up until the final fan returns were released.

The players that were in the back end of the top-10 that overtook Bridges were Toronto Raptors forward Scottie Barnes, Miami Heat center Bam Adebayo, and New York Knicks forward Julius Randle. While Bridges fell outside of the top-10, the voting results tell a more detailed story on how his voting ranked during this process.

Bridges had the 10th-highest weighted score among frontcourt players so he still finished in the top-10 relative to his peers. He ranked seventh according to the players (25% of the vote), 11th for fans (50%), and eighth in media voting (25%).

Bridges was not announced as a starter for the All-Star game when the selections were announced on Thursday so he would have to be voted in by NBA coaches as a reserve.

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Nets’ Mikal Bridges reacts to team blowing 4th quarter lead to Knicks

After Tuesday’s 108-103 loss to the New York Knicks, Brooklyn Nets guard Mikal Bridges gave his take on the poor finish to the game.

NEW YORK — The Brooklyn Nets started this season like a team that was going exceed expectations and comfortably be in the playoff race by the end of the season. Over their last 22 games, the outlook for this team appears to be the opposite of that, especially with their fourth-quarter woes.

“Just got to stay together,” Bridges said after putting up 36 points, five rebounds, and five assists in Tuesday’s 108-103 loss to their crosstown rival, the New York Knicks. After a hard-fought first half, the Nets were in a similar position as they entered the fourth quarter leading 85-76 thanks to a third quarter in which they won 36-26. However, the fourth quarter demons came back to haunt Brooklyn again.

“That’s the biggest thing when a team makes a run, makes a push,” Bridges said. “Just got to handle adversity a little bit better. We had it earlier in the year. We won some games towards the end, but kind of lost that. It’s tough when you keep losing at the end, you know? It puts your confidence down. So, we just got to keep sticking together. We’re going to be in those positions a lot. Just got to be ready.”

To sum up how bad the fourth quarter has been for the Nets lately, there is a shocking stat. In their last four losses, including Tuesday’s loss to the Knicks, Brooklyn has now been outscored by 52 points in the fourth.

While a big chunk of that is when the Nets lost the fourth quarter to the Los Angeles Clippers, it also includes double-digit deficits to New York and the Portland Trail Blazers. It looks like winning time is Brooklyn’s kryptonite at the moment.

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Nets’ Mikal Bridges, Cam Johnson among finalists for 2024 USABMNT

USA Basketball announced on Tuesday that Brooklyn Nets wings Mikal Bridges and Cam Johnson are finalists for the 2024 Paris Olympics.

The Brooklyn Nets are at the point of their season where if they want to have a chance at the playoffs, they have to start stringing together wins right now. However, outside of that, there is some good news regarding two of their better players.

On Tuesday, prior to the Nets’ matchup against the New York Knicks, USA Basketball announced through their “X” account the 41 finalists for the 2024 Men’s National Team. Two of the finalists were Nets guard Mikal Bridges and forward Cam Johnson, two players who participated in the FIBA World Cup for the team this past summer.

As USA Basketball pointed out in a subsequent post, the list will be cut down from 41 to 12 later in 2024. Obviously, with the 2024 edition of the team competing in the Paris Olympics, some of the top players in the NBA like LeBron James and Steph Curry will most likely be the headliners for the team.

Bridges, 27, is averaging 21.4 points, 5.2 rebounds, and 3.7 assists per game while shooting 45.2% from the field and 35.4% from behind the three-point line.

Johnson, 27, is averaging 13.9 points, 4.6 rebounds, and 2.6 assists per game while shooting 45.1% from the field and 39.2% from three-point land.

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Nets’ Mikal Bridges reacts to disappointing collapse against the Clippers

After Sunday’s 125-114 loss to the Los Angeles Clippers, Brooklyn Nets guard Mikal Bridges reacted to Brooklyn’s fourth-quarter collapse.

The Brooklyn Nets headed into Sunday’s game against the Los Angeles Clippers having already achieved an impressive victory over the Los Angeles Lakers on Friday. To make matters worse, the Nets were well on their way to ending their west coast road trip by beating the Clippers. That is until the second half of the fourth quarter happened.

On Sunday, Brooklyn lost to 125-114 and while the Nets came into this contest as double-digit underdogs, the loss is worst than it appears. Brooklyn looked like they were on the way to another upset victory as they were leading the Clippers 99-84 going into the fourth quarter.

However, the fourth quarter presented a different issue for the Nets as they found themselves on the other side of a run that essentially allowed Los Angeles to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat. The Clippers went on to win the fourth quarter 41-15 as an utter domination by Los Angeles when it became winning time.

Nets guard Mikal Bridges, who put up 26 points, sixth rebounds, and five assists in the loss, spoke about what led to the startling collapse in the period. According to Brian Lewis of the New York Post, Bridges noted how the Clippers went small and switched on every screen, virtually locking down Brooklyn’s offense to a halt.

He also noted that the Nets did not know how to handle that kind of defensive scheme which was concerning to hear to say the least.

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