The Brooklyn Nets want more from Mikal Bridges this season.

If you watched Bridges following his trade to the Nets in 2022-23, that's saying a lot. The former Sun quickly cemented himself within the inner circle of the NBA's rising stars, averaging 27.7 points per game on 47/38/89 shooting splits in 30 games with Brooklyn. Bridges scored 30 or more 12 times during that span after reaching the total just twice in four-and-a-half years with Phoenix.

The Villanova product continued to turn heads during the FIBA World Cup, emerging as Team USA's second-best player behind only Minnesota superstar Anthony Edwards. Bridges played the tenacious two-way defense that made him a fan favorite in Phoenix while showcasing his malleable offensive skillset as a high-level on-ball creator and spot-up shooter.

Expectations for Bridges have never been higher entering 2023-24. Yet, Nets head coach Jacque Vaughn and general manager Sean Marks still feel their new number one option has significant room to grow:

“We're gonna put more on his plate. We're going to ask him to do more,” Vaughn said. “But at the same time, you saw in Team USA, he grabbed on to what has made him pretty special in this league: being a connector on that team, being defensive-minded every single game. So those things he'll continue to do, but I will put more on his plate going forward.”

“I think you saw a compete and a care factor. Whether it was up until the last missed free throw, ‘I’m not going to give up, I'm going to somehow find a way.’ That’s who he is.”

“Putting more on his plate” should be viewed as a euphemism for “expect him to close out games in clutch moments.”

Despite his breakout as a high-usage scorer with Brooklyn, Bridges had the ball far less than expected in crunch time. He attempted just nine of the team's 60 clutch shots during that span compared to 22 for Spencer Dinwiddie, per NBA.com. The Nets ranked 28th in clutch offense (final five minutes within five points) to close the year, shooting 40 percent while posting a 4-7 record in clutch games.

Bridges' low usage in clutch moments can be attributed to his inexperience as a lead ball handler. The former lottery pick averaged just 2.7 assists per game with the Nets and has clear room to grow in reading defensive coverages. That inexperience as a distributor led to the nine-year veteran Dinwiddie, who ranked fifth in the league at 9.1 assists per game after joining the Nets, dominating the ball down the stretch of games.

Brooklyn would like to change that late-game dynamic in 2023-24, with Marks alluding to higher crunch time usage for Bridges:

“I think he’s proven to a lot of people that his role can continue to get better and better and bigger and bigger, so I think I would be pretty silly to be up here and limit him and say he cannot be something,” the GM said following Brooklyn's first-round sweep against Philadelphia. “I think that a few people have had their eyes open to what he can do. But now, when the ball’s in his hands in those key crucial moments of games, can he step up? Can he be that guy that we can rely on in big moments?”

“We saw it a little bit in Phoenix when Devin Booker was out, he carried a considerable load for them. And then we saw this year where he came in and immediately was a crowd favorite. You could get behind him. It’s just the way he played, how he played and he didn’t shy away from those moments either. So I would definitely not limit him and say he could only be this for us.”

The Nets' expectations for Bridges aren't limited to his on-court performance. The team also expects Bridges to continue his growth as the team's leader, with Vaughn pointing to the 27-year-old's ability to connect with teammates on Team USA:

“I think you saw, you’re able to keep up with guys because of social media this day, so whether he forms a relationship with Austin Reaves, the next thing you know, they have a handshake together. Those things make Mikal special when you’re talking about creating an environment, a community, a co-op, everyone doing their part,” Vaughn said. “He is the quintessential president of the co-op.”

Bridges joins a Nets core predominately in the same age range this season, with Ben Simmons (27), Cam Johnson (27), Nic Claxton (24), and Spencer Dinwiddie (30) headlining the roster. That group will attempt to lead Brooklyn to their sixth-straight playoff appearance during the first full season of the post-Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving era.