After missing the entirety of the 2022-23 season and the start of the 2023-24 season after pleading guilty to charges of domestic violence, Charlotte Hornets forward Miles Bridges has returned to his fringe All-Star form two seasons ago. In fact, the Hornets forward is currently on a tear, having dropped a combined 86 points over the past two games. This has only served to heat up the Phoenix Suns' interest in the polarizing highflyer.

However, it's looking rather unlikely that the Suns are able to pull off a trade with the Hornets for Bridges with only a few hours to go before the deadline. According to ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski, despite having trade talks with other teams involving the 25-year old, it's looking probable that Bridges will be with the Hornets past the trade deadline.

(Skip to 3:19 for the relevant part.)

Since Miles Bridges signed the one-year qualifying offer this past offseason, he has full veto rights on any trade. While the opportunity to join a winning team such as the Suns should be enticing for the Hornets forward, he doesn't have any financial incentive to seek out any trade at the moment.

As Marc Stein pointed out, “Bridges might well stay put in Charlotte to preserve his Bird Rights for the offseason”, opening up the possibility that he cashes in on his impressive on-court work this season. If he does waive his no-trade clause, he'll end up forfeiting his Bird Rights, and the Suns (or other interested teams such as the Utah Jazz and Dallas Mavericks) won't exactly have the financial capability to offer him a deal that will be to his liking.

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While adding Miles Bridges, despite his shoddy track record off the court, would improve the Suns' chances of competing for a championship, especially when it won't take much in the way of salary matching to pull off a trade, a potential move for the Hornets forward may not happen until the offseason, where he has the chance to agree to a sign-and-trade.

Bridges hasn't fully gotten past his off-court troubles; he has a court date later this month for violating a protection order, which further clouds his chances of being traded away.