Mikal Bridges’ arrival — or, more accurately, the departures of the MVP contender Durant and controversial All-Star Kyrie Irving — will change the dynamic of what had become a Sixers-Nets rivalry following last year’s Ben Simmons-James Harden swap.
NEW YORK — Mikal Bridges got a step on De’Anthony Melton as he turned to go downhill, then scooped the ball around Joel Embiid and toward the basket. But when he caught a glimpse of Nic Claxton vying for the rebound as his potential game-winner fell off the rim, Bridges threw up his arms in frustration.
And Bridges — the 26-year-old averaging a career-high 17.3 points per game and with NBA Defensive Player of the Year potential — now has an important role in the Nets’ abrupt retool. New Suns owner Mat Ishbia officially taking control of the organization earlier in the week, plus the Irving trade to the Dallas Mavericks, put Bridges and Johnson back on alert. They were in Atlanta when news of the trade surfaced as Wednesday turned into Thursday. Suns teammate Damion Lee was the first to call Bridges, who confirmed he was on the move with a refresh of Twitter. The initial shock — he tweeted “Omygod lol” at 1:08 a.m.
That transition period with the trade pending was seemingly the only way to snap Bridges’ streak of consecutive NBA games played at 400 . Johnson joked that Bridges was “shaking” while forced to watch the Nets’ win over the Chicago Bulls on Thursday night, before the deal became official.
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