Miles Bridges Comments On Upcoming Free Agency

The Pistons are expected to court some pretty big free agents this offseason.
Miles Bridges Comments On Upcoming Free Agency
Miles Bridges Comments On Upcoming Free Agency /

The Pistons are one of five teams, along with Orlando, San Antonio, Indiana and Portland, who are projected to have 'significant' cap space this offseason. 

Detroit has team options on Hamidou Diallo, Frank Jackson, Luka Garza and newly-acquired Carsen Edwards, while Cory Joseph has a player option to deal with. Jerami Grant and Kelly Olynyk are entering the last year of their respective contracts, and obviously the Pistons are in the mix for a high draft pick, which brings with it a cap hold of $7.9 million. There's also some dead money on the books from old deals and a couple of free agents to figure out in Marvin Bagley III and Rodney McGruder. Depending on how all of those things shake out, the Pistons could get close to $30 million in cap space. If Troy Weaver ends up moving Jerami Grant, that number could go up even more.

Whenever all of that is figured out, Weaver will have a few free agents to look at. One of the most intriguing and potentially realistic targets is Miles Bridges. The Flint native and current Charlotte Hornet is a restricted free agent, but may opt to return closer to home in order to help with the rebuild in Detroit. As a restricted free agent, Bridges can sign an offer sheet with any team, but the Hornets can retain him by matching the terms of that offer. The original team is said to have the “right of first refusal.” So it'll be interesting to see how that plays out whether Detroit is involved or not.

Bridges recently spoke about his upcoming free agency making it seem like he'd like to stay in Charlotte.

"My mom, she loves it here. My kids love it here," Bridges said. "You know, Charlotte has really taken me in. I got drafted here as a 20-year-old kid and for me to grow up here and everybody to embrace me like they have, that's something that I'll never forget."

The Hornets are expected to try to keep Bridges, but NBA free agency is a very fluid machine. The Pistons have a very exciting young foundation with a lot of upside, but so do the Hornets, and Bridges knows that.

"I would love to play with Melo [Ball] and Terry [Rozier] for the rest of my career," Bridges said. "Those are my guys, my brothers. Just to have that type of relationship with such dynamic players, you don't see that too much in the NBA."

Wherever Bridges ends up, it's going to take a pretty penny to land him. Some Pistons fans love the idea of him suiting up in Detroit, while others don't think he's worth it. Wherever you stand, these are the facts — Bridges just turned 24 years old, can play way above the rim, which fits extremely well with guys like Cade Cunningham and Killian Hayes, can defend three to four positions, has improved his three-point shooting immensely and is a problem in one-on-one situations. Frankly, he's a pretty complete player and he's still getting better. No one knows if he'll end up in Detroit or not, but it is pretty intriguing to think about.


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