Mikal Bridges developed his game growing up in the suburbs of Philadelphia. The breakout Brooklyn Nets forward was a diehard 76ers fan, frequently attending games at Wells Fargo Center, then called the Wachovia Center. He went on to play at Great Valley High School in Malvern, Pennsylvania, where he would earn All-State honors and a four-star grade before committing to stay home and play for Villanova.
Bridges will return to Philadelphia Saturday with a chance to take down his hometown team in Game 1 of the playoffs. The 26-year-old reminisced about his Sixers fandom following Nets practice Tuesday:
“I was a huge Sixers fan. I mean, everybody knows that,” Bridges said. “I grew up going to all the games in the world. Definitely a big A.I. guy, a big Iggy guy, a lot of guys. I knew pretty much everybody when I was growing up.”
Mikal Bridges' childhood dream nearly became a reality when Philadelphia selected him 10th overall in the 2018 draft. His mother worked for the team, and after he won two National Championships while being named Big East Defensive Player of the Year at Villanova, the script was lined up for Bridges' NBA jump to come in a Sixers uniform.
“That was the biggest thing all of my senior year of college was Philly has the 10th pick, they’ll be dumb if they don’t get Mikal,” Bridges recently said on the C.J. McCollum Show. “A hometown kid, they need a three-and-d guy. It was set up, it was just set up for me to go home.”
When the Sixers' pick was announced, Mikal Bridges found himself overwhelmed with emotion:
“I was about to tear up just because of how crazy it was. I’m like, ‘I’m really about to be home, my mom works for the Sixers, I’m gonna talk about this all year.’ The emotions were nuts.”
That dream came crashing down when Bridges left his post-draft press conference. Philadelphia had traded him to Phoenix, a shock not only to himself but also to the Sixers fanbase.
“I walk out of there and they told me the news and I was pissed off,” Mikal Bridges said. “I was pissed off that whole night. I didn’t go out, I stayed in my hotel room. I was that mad.”
“It took me days after to be appreciative of the moment. I had to be like, ‘Listen Mikal, f**k all that. You went top 10, you got drafted.' In the moment it’s human nature to be upset about not going to the place you wanted to go. It took me days to realize that.”
Mikal Bridges on being drafted and traded by 76ers:
“That was the biggest thing all of my senior year was Philly has the 10th pick, they’ll be dumb if they don’t get Mikal… It was just set up for me to go home.”
"I walk out of there and they told me the news and I was… pic.twitter.com/qtQMDqY91I
— Erik Slater (@erikslater_) April 12, 2023
The trade wound up being a blessing in disguise. Bridges became a fan favorite in Phoenix, a product of his hard-nosed defense and clutch shotmaking. He came two games short of a championship in 2021 before earning First-Team All-Defense honors last season.
With Devin Booker sidelined early this year, Mikal Bridges stepped out of his complementary role and into the spotlight. He quickly gained his rhythm as a primary shot creator, averaging 21.8 points on 49 percent shooting over his last 16 games with the Suns. That success carried over to Brooklyn with Bridges earning league-wide praise as the Nets' lead-scorer. He ranks 13th in the NBA in scoring since being traded for Kevin Durant at the deadline, averaging 27.2 points on 48/38/89 shooting splits.
Mikal Bridges dropped 42 PTS in the Brooklyn W 🔥 pic.twitter.com/hYecncLVb5
— NBA (@NBA) April 1, 2023
That elite efficiency has made Bridges the focal point of opponents' gameplans, unlike his first four and a half seasons playing behind Devin Booker and later Chris Paul. Tyrese Maxey said Tuesday that Philadelphia will need to be at the top of their game to slow down the Nets' leading scorer:
“We're gonna have to play him not just one-on-one but a five-man defense,” Maxey said via Sam DiGiovanni. “He's gotta see a crowd every single time that he catches the ball.”
Bridges is aware of the challenge that type of attention will present in a playoff setting:
“It's going to be tough for sure. I know how it is, I know how game-planning for top players is,” he also said Tuesday. “I know being the defender guarding the guy, so I know how the scouting can be. I mean, it's a challenge, and it's great. It's great for all of us. All it's going to do is make us better.”
While Saturday will be his first playoff game as a lead option, Bridges isn't overcomplicating the series. He calmly emphasized what got him to this point when speaking Tuesday: making the correct reads, shooting with confidence and playing his patented hard-nosed defense. Simple basketball, as he likes to call it.
The NBA's ironman, who has played in 392 straight games to start his career, knows the arena is going to be packed with friends and family Saturday as he attempts to pull off the upset over his childhood team:
“It's going to be a lot,” Bridges said of how many will be in attendance. “I know it's going to be a lot. I don't know how many, but there's gonna be a lot of rooting for me and a lot of rooting for the Sixers as well.”
“So it's going to be fun.”
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