Phoenix Suns forward Miles Bridges has watched a substantial amount of film of his new team to help him determine how he can best impact winning this season.
“I feel like my physicality is going to really help us because we’re already a physical team with Dillon (Brooks) and everybody else,” Bridges said Sept. 28. “Just a scrappy team, and I think I can add to that.”
Bridges will make his Suns preseason debut Oct. 5 against the Detroit Pistons back in his home state of Michigan.
The 28-year-old was born in Flint.
“He's something that we were lacking a bit last year with his size, his versatility on both ends of the court," Suns All-Star Devin Booker said. "I think he's an underrated playmaker from his position. Somebody that can get the rebound
and push the break also and he can exploit matchups that aren't his size. So he can take advantage of the mismatches. I'm excited to share the court with him.”
Phoenix traded Grayson Allen, Royce O’Neale and an unprotected 2033 first-round pick in the offseason to the Charlotte Hornets for Bridges, a 2029 first-round pick and a 2027 second-round pick.
In the final year of a three-year, $75-million deal, the 6-7, 225-pound Bridges is eligible for a three-year extension up to $86 million.
“I feel great about the Miles Bridges trade,” Suns team owner Mat Ishbia said.
“First off, Royce and Grayson were two great players, great part of our team," Ishbia said. "We're going to definitely miss those two guys, but bringing in Miles, on the court, he's a phenomenal player.”
Bridges starred at Michigan State (2016-18) where Ishbia won a national championship in 2000 as a walk-on. He was the 12th overall pick in the 2018 NBA Draft.
“He's done amazing things,” Ishbia continued. “He's gonna be a great fit from a cultural perspective. His work ethic, his drive, his athleticism, his toughness. It fits exactly what we're building here in Phoenix. And so, from a basketball perspective, we feel extremely great about that fit on our team, and he was a player that we targeted as that."
Bridges has averaged at least 20 points in three different NBA seasons, but he’s never competed in the playoffs.
He’s hoping to change that in his first year in Phoenix.
Collin Gillespie X Miles Bridges = from 3. #Suns pic.twitter.com/YRShcSetMd
— Duane Rankin (@DuaneRankin) September 29, 2026
“I’m excited to learn from them, learn different ways to win and then bring what I bring to the court to them,” Bridges said.
Adding Bridges further strengthens the franchise’s ties to Michigan State. Suns general manager Brian Gregory was an assistant coach under legendary Michigan State coach Tom Izzo from 1999 to 2003.
The trade raised eyebrows because Bridges was involved in a domestic violence incident with the mother of his children, for which the NBA imposed a 30-game suspension without pay in April 2023. He missed the entire 2022-23 season.
Recognizing that outcome, the NBA deemed 20 games of the suspension had been served.
“Miles has taken responsibility for his actions,” Gregory said. “He's shown remorse for those actions. He's gone through counseling and is continually on a daily basis doing things for his personal growth. He has also made a commitment on a daily basis to become the best man and the best father that he can be. I have no question at all that he understands the responsibility of what our organization's expectations and values are.
"We will hold him accountable to the same high standards of everybody that is part of the Phoenix Suns’ organization. There will be no wavering on that.”
Suns' staff familiar with Bridges
Gregory's history with Bridges, going back to Michigan State, gives him the confidence to speak with such conviction about the decision.
“During Miles freshman year, I was at Michigan State as a consultant,” Gregory said. “So that helped us, in fact, that I know who Miles Bridges is as a person. I know who he is. I know all his mentors from Flint, Michigan, every single one of them. I know his coaches at Huntington Prep. I have a pretty good relationship with his college coach.”
That would be Izzo.
“With that being said, it was beneficial in our decision process,” Gregory continued. “At the same time, the basketball piece, with all those things in place, if he wasn’t a perfect for us basketball wise and he couldn’t bring the things that we needed, then he wouldn’t be sitting here.”
Suns head coach Jordan Ott spent two years as a graduate assistant at Michigan State while earning his master’s degree and later worked five seasons as the video coordinator for the Spartans from 2008-13.
Bridges has already connected with Ott, who is asking him to check several boxes while giving him the freedom to play to his strengths, or “superpowers,” as Ott likes to say.
“He definitely wants me on the glass, you know, defensively and offensively, but if I get the rebound on defense, he’ll just let me go,” Bridges said.
Bridges averaged 17.1 points on 46% shooting, 5.8 rebounds, and 3.2 assists in 77 games last season for the Hornets.
“He trusts me with the ball,” Bridges continued. “He expects me to make plays and I'm a willing passer. I know we have a lot of great scorers on this team, and I want to get those guys involved and find a happy medium with me being aggressive, too.”
Then there’s Mateen Cleaves, the leader of Michigan State’s 2000 national championship team who is now a player development coach for the Suns.
“Mateen being around is really good because he basically raised me,” Bridges said. “He’s known me since I was, what, 10 years old? For him to be around to hold me accountable on the court, off the court, it is great for me.”
Bridges has always played with an imposing physicality and athleticism going back to his high school days as a 2016 McDonald’s High School All-American.
“In high school, I was very physical, but in the NBA it's a different physicality," he said. "Everybody's physical. So, I think my third year in the league, that's when I realized I could punish mismatches, get to the rim, go off two feet, post up. That’s when I really started getting the confidence and I just been building on off on each year.”
'Not scared of the big shots'
He’s also been able to handle the ball, a skill the Hornets utilized, particularly in late-game situations. Bridges may not have the same number of opportunities in Phoenix playing alongside Booker, but he’s a solid option in those pressure moments.
“We would like to have the ball in Book’s hands or Collin (Gillespie) or Dillon, but I'm not scared of the big shots, either,” Bridges said. “You just got to read off instincts. If Book is in the game, teams are going to pay attention to him. So, I could be a decoy and this and that, but we will see when the time comes.”
The Suns will also look to use Bridges in the screen game to make them even more challenging to defend.
“We’ve been working a lot of inverted screens, too, in the open gyms. It's easy to do that when you’ve got shooters on the team like Collin, Luke (Kennard), even Book coming in, setting screens. It works because you’ve got to pick. You’re going to leave a shooter or you’re going let me go to the basket. So that's been great.”
On inverted screens, the guard can come from the corner or baseline and set a back screen on the man guarding a forward, who can then attack the big who is late getting over, beat the double to the rim, or pass it out to an open shooter.
Bridges’ ball-handling makes the play even more challenging to guard.
“His size is real, his physicality is real, especially when they can put some small defenders out there,” Ott said about Bridges. “We have guys who can really screen. Our smalls will really screen. It’s pick-and-roll where you may invert or just some type of back pick to get him in there. It’s nice to get him a couple of deep catches in the paint. He’s a really good finisher with both hands. We’ll definitely take a look.”
Have opinions about the current state of the Suns? Reach Suns Insider Duane Rankin at dmrankin@gannett.com or contact him at 480-810-5518. Follow him on X, formerly Twitter, at @DuaneRankin.
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This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Miles Bridges looks to give Phoenix Suns what they lacked last season
