With Trae Young's exit from the Atlanta Hawks, only three players from the 2018 draft class remain on their original teams. Among them is Miles Bridges, whom the Charlotte Hornets brought in with the No. 12 pick they acquired via trade.
The other two are fourth overall pick Jaren Jackson Jr. of the Memphis Grizzlies and second-rounder Mitchell Robinson, who has impressively continued to suit up for the New York Knicks despite being featured in trade rumors plenty of times.
Miles, a Hornets lifer?
Only time will tell if Bridges will remain in Charlotte for the rest of his career. It has certainly been a roller coaster ride for him. After several productive years and a battle with off-court issues, he has now become the longest-tenured player in the organization.
Funnily enough, until this season, Bridges has been mentioned in the media and among fans as a likely trade candidate. The clamor to ship him elsewhere only grew louder when it had looked like he was doing too much on offense and his defense had left a lot to be desired.
Now, he has established his role as the fourth option at best behind LaMelo Ball, Brandon Miller, and Kon Knueppel. And based on his recent performances, Bridges has shown the ability to thrive as a complementary scorer alongside his star teammates. In fact, there are times when he has made the Hornets look like geniuses for resisting the urge to trade him.
Still, the 27-year-old vet's fit as the starting power forward continues to be iffy. Charlotte could certainly benefit from a bigger forward who can offer more resistance as a backline or help defender, especially since none of Ball, Miller, and Knueppel project to be a superior point-of-attack defender.
More value than Trae?
If Bridges can find a niche and flourish as an instant source of offense and energy off the bench, he could provide the Hornets with a value that exceeds what Young had brought to the Hawks in the previous seven seasons. That's saying a lot, considering the point guard steered them to the playoffs three times, and they were even two wins away from reaching the Finals in 2021.
However, Atlanta may have waited too long to part ways with its former franchise centerpiece. It couldn't even land any draft picks for him.
The best it could muster is Corey Kispert and CJ McCollum. To be fair, those players can supply short-term help for the Hawks. Kispert is an efficient shooter who can mesh well with their current core, led by Jalen Johnson. McCollum can be either a much-needed locker room presence or a valuable trade piece. Still, given the present landscape in the NBA, not obtaining draft capital or a promising prospect for a star of Young's caliber looks like a losing proposition.
Charlotte is not out of the woods with Bridges yet, though. If his game regresses to the point that he becomes a negative asset, the Hornets might not be able to salvage any value out of him in the future. Hopefully, that won't turn out to be the case.