Miles Bridges trade grades: Suns get financial relief at steep cost

The Charlotte Hornets continue to reshape their roster in lieu of LaMelo Ball, trading forward Miles Bridges to the Phoenix Suns in exchange for Grayson Allen, Royce O'Neale and an unprotected 2033 first-round pick. The Suns also receive a less favorable 2029 first-round pick from Charlotte and a less favorable 2027 second-round pick, per ESPN's Shams Charania.

Phoenix saves $20 million in taxes and gets a player it has been targeting "in recent years," per Shams. Charlotte gets arguably the best player (Allen) and the best asset (Phoenix's unprotected pick in seven years). Bridges is a Michigan State product; Suns owner Mat Ishbia played basketball at MSU and the front office has deep Spartans ties.

Hornets trade grade: A+

Bridges immediately took to Instagram to eulogize the LaMelo Ball era when that trade went down. It's clear that Charlotte is reorienting its competitive timeline around Kon Knueppel and Brandon Miller, so this trade should not come as a shock. Bridges is on an expiring $22.8 million contract and now gets the opportunity to ink an extension in Phoenix.

This feels like an unequivocal victory for the Hornets.

Bridges' off-court track record is deeply troubling and he's not necessarily the kind of person an organization should build around. He was arrested in 2022 on a felony charge of causing harm to the parent of a child and two felony charges of child abuse. He received three years of probation and did not serve jail time. The NBA suspended him for 30 games, an embarrassingly negligible punishment. Charlotte was rightfully criticized for keeping Bridges and extending his contract to begin with.

This is also a clear upgrade basketball-wise, even if Charlotte is taking on extra salary. Bridges is still a productive spot-up scorer and slasher, but he's a middling defender who has struggled to impact winning on a consistent basis for the Hornets.

Grayson Allen is coming off of a down year shooting the basketball, but he has a long track record as one of the most efficient 3-point snipers in the NBA. His dip in efficiency is partly attributable to Phoenix placing more ball-handling responsibilities on his plate in lieu of Bradley Beal and Kevin Durant. Allen took on a career-high 24.2 percent usage rate last season.

He can help Charlotte backfill point guard responsibilities after the LaMelo Ball trade, joining a backcourt comprised of Coby White and rookie Christian Anderson. He also gives Charlotte another deadeye movement shooter to work into off-ball actions next to (or behind) Kon Knueppel. Allen is a better athlete and a more rigorous defender than he often gets credit for, too. He's a rock-solid role player.

Royce O'Neale, with roughly two years and $22 million left on his contract, can help replace Bridges at the four spot. He shot 40.8 percent from deep this past season, in the 96th percentile for his position in effective field goal percentage (59.8). He's also an active defender in the gaps (1.6 STL%). With Charlotte's investment in Hannes Steinbach and other strong positional rebounders, the hope is that O'Neale's limited physicality is successfully masked.

That 2033 unprotected first-round pick is the real prize, of course. The Suns are treading water in no-man's land right now. Devin Booker is approaching his 30th birthday. There's really no telling if the Suns are remotely competitive in seven years when that pick conveys. Charlotte, meanwhile, is only sacrificing the least favorable pick between Utah, Cleveland and Minnesota in 2029, which is probably a late first-rounder.

Suns trade grade: F

See above for reasons you should not want Miles Bridges on your basketball team.

Even from a strictly basketball perspective, this feels like a detrimental miscalculation from the Suns, who clearly zeroed in on Bridges in 2024 and never let up. Even if we give the front office the benefit of the doubt that this was not solely a Michigan State reunion, Bridges does very little to fix what is fundamentally wrong with the Phoenix roster.

The Suns needed to clear up space in the backcourt after extending Collin Gillespie and Jordan Goodwin. Getting further below the second apron line isn't a half-bad business move either. Bridges is an expiring contract and could come off the books scot-free in a year. If the Suns can resist an extension, then whatever. He can help them compete for the eighth seed again.

But the Suns aren't exactly hurting for depth at the four spot. Phoenix has spent draft capital in three straight seasons at the position: Ryan Dunn (2024 first-round pick), Rasheer Fleming (2025 second-round pick) and Koa Peat (2026 first-round pick). Oso Ighodaro can also play the four in certain matchups, with Mark Williams and Khaman Maluach entrenched as short- and long-term staples at the five spot.

The shot selection and defensive integrity of Miles Bridges and Jalen Green lineups scares me. Also, trading an unprotected 2033 first-round pick as a team with no clear direction is absurd. Bridges is a replacement-level forward most nights and he is, again, on an expiring contract. An extension probably veers immediately into bad money. Without an extension, the Suns are sacrificing the future for minor cap relief and a year of completely unspecial production. What are we doing here, folks?

Phoenix's front office has handled the post-KD transition about as well as one could expect, but this reads as incredibly shortsighted.

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