Matt Benson
Sophomore Liaison
In this year's NBA trade deadline, the Brooklyn Nets were involved in one of the largest blockbusters in recent history, sending Kevin Durant to the Phoenix Suns in return for rising star Mikal Bridges. While Kevin Durant is one of the most well-known names in NBA history, Mikal Bridges is one of the top young stars in the league, and has the potential to be one of the NBA’s best two-way players for the next decade.
Mikal Bridges began his career at Villanova University under Hall of Fame coach Jay Wright, winning two national championships over his three year tenure. He was selected with the 10th overall pick in the 2018 NBA draft by the 76ers, but was subsequently traded to the Phoenix Suns on draft night.
According to DraftExpress, Bridges was a highly touted defensive prospect with his 7 foot plus wingspan, and showed potential as a three point shooter, shooting 40% from three and 84.5% from the free throw line.
Bridges’ career with the Suns started out slowly offensively, as he only averaged 8.7 points per game on 46.7% shooting while playing 28.8 minutes per game according to BasketballReference. Despite his relatively low offensive output, he made an immediate impact defensively, averaging 1.5 steals and .5 blocks per game during those seasons. This was also evident in his advanced statistics as his Steal and Block Percentage were high, at 2.5% and 1.6%, respectively.
In his third and fourth seasons, Bridges began making strides offensively while maintaining his defensive prowess, averaging 13.8 points per game on an improved 53.8% field goal percentage and 39.7% three point percentage. During this time, his Win Shares more than doubled from 7.7 in his first two seasons to 16.9 in his third and fourth seasons. Another notable increase was his VORP, which is a calculation of a player’s value over a position player, as it increased from 1.7 to 5.7.
A significant reason for his growth on the offensive side can be attributed to the arrival of Chris Paul, which forced Bridges into his natural position of small forward instead of shooting guard, which he often played his first two seasons. The Suns made the NBA Finals in 2021, and Bridges averaged 12 points and 4.2 rebounds per game in the series.
While Mikal Bridges made improvements in each of his first four seasons, he has shown the most significant growth this current season, as he is averaging a career high 17.7 points per game and 3.5 assists per game. Additionally, he is averaging a career high 6 rebounds and 3.5 assists per game. On the defensive side, Bridges has maintained his dominance, as he is averaging 1.2 steals per game and .8 blocks per game, which is right at his career average. While his defensive stats have not increased this season, it is important to note that he has been able to maintain these statistics while dramatically improving his offensive game.
Outside of traditional stats, Mikal Bridges has established himself as an advanced statistical superstar this season. On the defensive end, Bridges currently ranks tied for second among SF in NBA Defensive Win Shares alongside Jaylen Brown behind Jimmy Butler. Defensive Win Shares is a calculation of how many games a player wins a player contributes due to their defense, and his 2.4 DWS puts him at 17th overall in the NBA. His second place positional ranking puts him alongside two of the best wing defenders in the league in Butler and Brown, and shows that he is dominant on that side of the ball.
Aside from his Defensive Win Shares, Bridges also ranks 5th among SF in Block Percentage, which is a testament to his long wingspan that made him such a high prospect coming into the draft. Bridges’ Block Percentage of 2.0 is only .2 points behind the small forward leader Torrey Craig. It is also important to note that Block Percentage favors players with fewer minutes, as there is a smaller sample size, and Mikal Bridges has the most minutes played of the the top five players in this category.
Mikal Bridges is also ranked 11th among small forwards in Steal Percentage. Steal Percentage is calculated similarly to block percentage in that it is a calculation of what percentage of an opponent’s possessions result in a steal by that player. Much like Block Percentage, Steal Percentage favors players who play fewer minutes, out of the nine small forwards ranked ahead of him, he has the most minutes and second most games played.
Aside from his steals and blocks, Bridges’ most impressive defensive skills are his versatility and ability to guard his opponents’ most difficult players. Crafted NBA calculates a player’s matchup difficulty rating, and out of NBA players with at least 1000 minutes played this season, Bridges has the third highest matchup difficulty in the league. In addition to this, he also ranks 36th overall in defensive versatility, as he often has to guard power forwards and guards.
Outside of his defensive statistics, Bridges has also emerged as a very efficient shooter this season, shooting 46.8% from the field, 39.5% from three, and 89.9% from the free throw line, which gives him a true shooting percentage of 58.1%, according to TeamRankings.
Additionally, according to TeamRankings, Bridges has a high efficiency rating of 18.56, which puts him at 56th overall in the league. Efficiency rating typically favors centers and power forwards, and Bridges ranks 7th among small forwards in the NBA which demonstrates his high value on offense.
Perhaps the most impressive skill that Bridges has been able to maintain throughout his entire career is his ability to stay healthy. While there has been a shift towards load management in the NBA in recent seasons, Bridges has never missed a game in his NBA career to injury, and the only seasons where he did not play a full 82 games were in 2020 and 2021, due to COVID-19 shortening the season.
Mikal Bridges is having a breakout year this season and is starting to look like one of the top small forwards in the NBA. His dominance on the defensive side of the ball puts him among the best in the league, and his continuous strides on the offensive end make him a threat for opposing teams. If he is able to continue his offensive growth throughout his career, maintain his defensive dominance, and stay healthy, Bridges will be a star in the league for the next five to ten years. With his young age of twenty-six and high potential, Brooklyn Nets fans have something exciting to look forward to after an underwhelming last three seasons.
Sources:
Basketball Reference
TeamRankings