After appearing to have learned a lesson ahead of the 2026 NBA trade deadline, the Phoenix Suns were back to their old ways with the June blockbuster to acquire Charlotte Hornets forward Miles Bridges.
The Suns surrendered their 2033 unprotected first round pick in addition to sharpshooting wings Grayson Allen and Royce O’Neale to acquire the other M. Bridges.
The 28-year-old power forward has not been named an All-Star throughout the course of his seven-year NBA career, and missed the entirety of the 2022-23 season following a domestic violence arrest and subsequent league suspension.
And while no fan should overlook the off-court concerns in the form of legal troubles that accompany Bridges, the basketball-related questions that surface should have fans raising an eyebrow, too.
Miles Bridges leaned on LaMelo Ball’s playmaking in Charlotte
It certainly isn’t a groundbreaking discovery that Bridges was the beneficiary of playmaking point guard LaMelo Ball during his time in Charlotte. Ball is a dynamic talent who’s often draining flat-footed 3-pointers when he’s not sending out flashy passes resulting in assists.
But the numbers as it relates to the Ball-Bridges duo should be cause for concern in The Valley, as CBS Sports’ Sam Quinn notes.
There's some real "LaMelo Ball merchant" with Miles Bridges. Over the last two years, Miles Bridges has a 60.8 TS% with LaMelo on and a 51.1 TS% with LaMelo off. The Suns, obviously, do not have a LaMelo Ball equivalent.
— Sam Quinn (@SamQuinnCBS) June 28, 2026
Over the past two seasons, Bridges shot nearly 10 percentage points better from a true shooting standpoint (an advanced scoring metric that weights true point values like 3-pointers accordingly) when LaMelo was on the court with him vs. when he was not.
And, as Quinn cheekily notes, the Suns do not have a LaMelo Ball on their roster.
That’s actually an understatement, provided that the only true point guard consistently in the Phoenix rotation is breakout guard Collin Gillespie, who himself is more of a shoot-first option than a passer.
The stats go beyond Bridges’ true shooting percentage, though.
According to data from NBA.com, the Hornets had 10 different lineups that logged 30 or more minutes together throughout the season while notching a positive net rating. Only two of those 10 lineups featured Bridges without Ball.
On the flip side, the Hornets had seven such lineups record a negative net rating. Of those seven, four consisted of a five-man rotation including Bridges with Ball on the bench. One of those seven lineups with a negative net rating that included Bridges and Ball had net rating of -0.9 points per 100 possessions, so it’s not like that lineup was getting outscored by a meaningful margin.
That doesn’t exactly do anything to shoot down Quinn’s “LaMelo Ball merchant” accusations levied at Bridges...
It’s been well established over the years that the Suns are a more cohesive team when they have a true point guard playing alongside Devin Booker. When Phoenix is utilizing lineups with “Point Book,” they’re forcing the team’s best scorer to become more of a distributor and pass-first guy.
Maybe Booker and Bridges can form a formidable pick-and-roll combo in The Valley, but Bridges benefitting as much as he did from having a playmaker like Ball on the roster may ultimately expose him on a squad without a similarly elite passing talent who draws the eyes of defenders.
Maybe the Suns have a plan to add a pass-first floor general to the fold, but as it stands the roster faces more questions than answers.
Add us as a preferred source on Google