During five seasons with the Phoenix Suns, star wing Mikal Bridges didn’t miss a single game. Still, no one had the decency to pick up a phone.
Bridges gave everything he had to that organization, which included a trip to the NBA Finals during his tenure. In return, the Suns were able to land Kevin Durant.
The former Villanova star knows as well as anyone that devastating trades can happen. He was selected in the draft by his hometown Philadelphia 76ers, who employed his mother, and was traded the same night for Zhaire Smith.
Bridges managed to make Phoenix feel like it was his home and he said he never wanted to leave. So when he got a FaceTime call from his former Suns’ teammate, Damion Lee, the news was particularly shocking:
Mikal Bridges found out he got traded for KD on FaceTime 😬 pic.twitter.com/5hJQZ23ERR
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) February 10, 2023
Here is how Bridges explained how he learned what happened:
“So my boy Damion Lee … We was in the hotel and he FaceTimed me. You could tell he was upset. He was just like: I’m sorry about this and that. I was like, what are you talking about? He’s like: You ain’t see? I was like: See what? He was like: You got traded to Brooklyn for KD. I was like oh man. I went to Twitter and saw it … My agents called me a couple minutes later.”
Several things must have happened for the news to break on Twitter, including decision-makers within Phoenix’s organization telling the NBA’s biggest reporters that a trade call was impending.
Omygod lol
— Mikal Bridges (@mikal_bridges) February 9, 2023
While it was late at night and it was literally the first day on the job for new Suns owner Mat Ishbia, someone should have given Bridges word about the trade before it went public.
It’s no secret that these reporters work very fast, but if they knew about it, so should the players involved.
There is no way that the trade should be that far along without someone in Phoenix picking up the phone and telling Bridges before his teammate was the one to break the news.
