As a young kid, Mikal Bridges' biggest dream was to somehow make it in the NBA. Never in his wildest dreams did he imagine that he was going to be a lottery pick — especially not by his hometown team, the Philadelphia 76ers. Well, all this came true during the 2018 NBA Draft as the Sixers drafted him 10th overall. And then, all of a sudden, Bridges saw his whole world collapsing right in front of him.

Bridges himself admits that that was how it felt like when he learned that the Sixers had traded him to the Phoenix Suns shortly after drafting him. From elation, the former Villanova standout's mood turned to rage. Bridges openly talks about the rollercoaster of emotions he went through on a recent episode of Podcast P with Paul George Presented by Wave Sports + Entertainment:

“Crazy. And it's wild because, stuff you dream for, you know what I'm saying? I think I never was like, I wanna go Top 10. Like, no, I wanna go to the NBA and having that dream happen and actually being very pissed off, you know what I'm saying? Like not even appreciating the moment and that’s something it took me days to kind of get over it and like realize like I got like a wake up call. Like, come on, you’re top 10,” Bridges said. “I don't care if you didn't talk to anybody in Phoenix. You're ultimately blessed like you should be grateful. But that night? If you see it's so funny because I know how I smile and I know my facial expressions. If you see the pictures I got with the Phoenix hat on like the fakest smile in the world Like I was hot. Oh hot. I didn't go out when we got back to the hotel. No, [I didn’t want to celebrate] I was pissed off. And I had this excuse, I'm like, oh I got an early flight tomorrow. I gotta go all the way to Phoenix because [we’re in] New York. I was pissed off, man.”

As Mikal Bridges said, though, he was able to get a hold of himself soon after. Nevertheless, he still went through quite a range of emotions before he was able to realize how blessed he was to have gone Top 10.

He's also come a long way since then. The 26-year-old now plies his trade with the Brooklyn Nets where he will be looking to build on his tremendous campaign with the team last season. Obviously, Bridges is still playing with that chip on his shoulder.

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