It has now been over a week since the trade of Kevin Durant shook up the NBA, yet the euphoria amongst Suns fans has not waned in the slightest. He’s been continuously showered with cheers at Suns home games and then again at his introductory press conference.
Sadly, the pain of having to trade Mikal Bridges and Cam Johnson also has not dissipated. Suns fans have continued to express gratitude for the former franchise cornerstones, celebrating their early success in Brooklyn as if they were still wearing the purple and orange.
While fans understand that this is the price you must pay to get a superstar like KD and is worth the gamble, it still stings. These two were fan favorites, great players, and, more importantly, great people. They came to this franchise when it was still a bottom feeder and helped turn it into a contender. We have a long way to go before determining if the trade will ultimately pay off, but there’s no time like the present to thank the Twins.
Bridges and Johnson were special Suns who will always be linked
Mikal Bridges may have been a bit of an afterthought on draft night 2018. The focus, rightly so, was on the Suns landing Deandre Ayton with the franchises’ first-ever number-one pick. Due to the Suns also having the 16th pick in the draft, Bridges wasn’t even on the Suns’ fans’ radar, as he had been mocked much higher.
But a prescient trade by then GM Ryan McDonough landed the Suns the 10th pick and Bridges along with it. Over the next four and a half seasons, Bridges became everything but an afterthought.