CHARLOTTE, N.C. — No matter what the Charlotte Hornets do with Miles Bridges, they are about to get blasted.
Bridges, 25, pleaded no contest to a felony domestic violence charge in November in California, which resulted in counseling, community service and probation, but no jail time. It also resulted in Charlotte’s leading scorer for the 2021-22 season not playing at all in 2022-23 and getting suspended for 30 games by the NBA. Some people think he should never play basketball again — not in Charlotte or anywhere else.
Others — including the woman who shares two children with Bridges, alleged the domestic violence in the first place and posted photos of her swollen face as proof — believes that Bridges deserves another shot.
“Every human deserves an opportunity at a second chance, not just certain people,” she wrote June 14 on Twitter. “Just think if it was you.” (The Observer is not naming the woman because it typically doesn’t identify people alleging domestic violence).
The woman has continued to echo that “second chance” theme in a number of other social media posts that have referenced Bridges over the past two weeks, adding: “We all have our flaws & he’s not perfect but overall he’s a good person. And no he didn’t ask me to say any of this, I chose to.”
I’m not thrilled about the idea of Hornets and Bridges linking up again from a moral perspective. And the Hornets know this is all very dicey. The team’s front office is trying to walk a tightrope here — balancing “We’ll Lose Our Jobs If We Keep Losing” pragmatism with the knowledge that Bridges did something very wrong.
Although the “no contest” plea means Bridges didn’t have to admit guilt, it also means he agreed to accept conviction and punishment.
The NBA conducted its own probe and ultimately came up with the 30-game suspension for Bridges that it handed down in April. It also made the controversial decision to say Bridges already would get “credit” for 20 games since he already didn’t play in 2022-23 under what NBA commissioner Adam Silver described as a “mutual agreement” (although Bridges wasn’t suspended last season). By missing that year entirely, Bridges also lost out on an estimated $15 million to $20 million worth of income.
That’s a stiff monetary punishment, but Bridges is still about to make a whole lot of money again. And it’s probably going to come from the Hornets, who have already extended a qualifying offer to Bridges, ensuring that he is a “restricted” free agent and the Hornets will have a chance to match any other offer he might get.
The fact that the Hornets are again on the verge of giving Bridges millions makes me uneasy. I also realize I’m not his judge and jury. None of us are. The court case is done. So is the NBA investigation. The penalties have been meted out. Bridges will still have to miss the first 10 games of the 2023-24 NBA season to finish serving his suspension and is set to lose 30 games worth of pay.
Here’s another hidden part of all this. Do you know who absolutely loves Miles Bridges?
LaMelo Ball.
The Hornets want to keep Ball around long-term, and Ball, in turn, wants to keep Bridges around long-term. This is far from a secret inside the organization. Ball believes having Bridges on the court — the high-flying leaper who dunks so many of Ball’s lob passes — is key to Charlotte not going 27-55 once again this season. You want to keep your 21-year-old star happy, especially if you want to keep your star in Charlotte when he reaches free agency.
Let’s play another hypothetical scenario out for a moment: Say the Hornets take the moral high ground and declare that Bridges, because he pleaded no contest to felony domestic violence, isn’t ever going to play for their team again.
That would win some points with the general public. But maybe not too many, because after all the Hornets just drafted Brandon Miller with the No. 2 overall draft pick.
Police in Alabama say Miller brought a gun to a Crimson Tide teammate that was then used to kill a single mother named Jamea Harris. Miller’s legal team has said he didn’t know his teammate had left the gun in question in the car. Miller has not been charged with any crime, but the incident loomed throughout the run-up to the NBA draft. The Hornets studied the case and then drafted Miller anyway. So the Hornets, in some ways, have already ceded the moral high ground.
And it certainly seems plausible that if the Hornets don’t sign Bridges, they just keep losing. And then Ball gets fed up. And then the new co-owners get a new coaching staff and a new GM, and Ball heads back to the West Coast to play for somebody else the first chance he gets, and Charlotte loses both Bridges and, in Ball, the player that puts fans in the seats.
Again, I’m not thrilled with the idea of Bridges returning. But I also know that professional locker rooms, no matter what the sport, aren’t filled with choirboys.
If the Hornets are going to do this, they need to make the deal as short-term as possible, and it needs to have a team-friendly clause that allows them to get out of it if Bridges misbehaves again.
A second chance? Yes, we’ve all needed one at some point in our lives. I’ve benefited from them before. You have, too. Giving one to Bridges for something this serious? I don’t like it, but I get it.
The Hornets are ready to make a bet on Bridges once more. They’ll absorb the backlash that’s going to come. And they’ll remind all of us cynics, once again, that professional sports are full of second chances — especially if you can average 20 points a game.
