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Charlotte Hornets forward Miles Bridges. Scott Kinser-Imagn Images

5 expiring contracts Hornets could target for a Miles Bridges swap

Originally posted on Charlotte Hornets on SI
By Colin Keane | Last updated Sep 24, 2025 8:00 AM ET

The Charlotte Hornets and Miles Bridges are no longer a good fit for each other. It makes sense for Charlotte to move on from Bridges as soon as possible, as he doesn't factor into the Hornets' current rebuild.

Bridges is in his prime at age 27, but the Hornets are still a couple of years away from competing. What's more, by the time Charlotte is on track to be significantly better (tentatively, 2027), Bridges will be entering free agency.

There's nothing wrong with Bridges as a player; it's just a matter of mismatched timelines. Bridges is set to make $47.8 million over the next two seasons ($25 million in 2025-26). By trading Bridges for an expiring contract (or two), the Hornets would accomplish a couple of things.

First, financially speaking, Charlotte would create significantly more cap flexibility by getting off of Bridges's contract a year early. Secondly, the Hornets would open up more minutes for young guys like Tidjane Salaün and Liam McNeeley, which makes makes sense for the rebuild.

With that in mind, here are five different players across the NBA on expiring deals who could be targeted by the Hornets in potential straight-up swaps for Bridges. In some of these trade ideas, the Hornets might be able to snag second-round draft capital, too, but we'll focus on the players here.

5 expiring contracts that would work in a Miles Bridges trade and help the Hornets' rebuild

Tobias Harris, Detroit Pistons ($26.6 million)

The Pistons would definitely be interested in turning Harris into Bridges as they look to take the next step and advance deeper into the East playoffs in 2025-26.

The aging Harris would be dejected to leave Detroit and join a rebuild, but the NBA is a business, as they say. He'd be an excellent veteran voice to help mentor all of Charlotte's young talent for one season.

Nikola Vucevic, Chicago Bulls ($25.1 million)

Despite Chicago's well-known eagerness to trade Vucevic, they have no reason to do so for Bridges (the Bulls are in the same rebuilding situation as the Hornets). At this point, the Bulls should probably just wait out one more year of Vooch's deal and then let him walk.

Even so, it's worth a call for Charlotte, especially because Chicago's front office has no idea what it is doing. There's always the possibility to fleece the Bulls in a deal, which leads us to another player.

Kevin Huerter, Bulls ($18 million)

This is an interesting one for the Hornets because Huerter is actually a guy they would consider keeping long-term, provided they could re-sign him next offseason at a much cheaper price.

Again, there's no reason for Chicago to trade Huerter (rather than try to re-sign him themselves), but the Bulls' brass might get starry-eyed at the prospect of being able to bring in a guy who has averaged 20 points per game three times (Bridges) for someone like Huerter and a second-rounder.

Harrison Barnes, San Antonio Spurs ($19 million)

The Spurs love Barnes, so there's a good chance they'd turn away from a Bridges swap, even though Barnes is six years older and an objectively lesser player in 2025 than Bridges. San Antonio might be planning to re-sign Barnes to a cheaper contract next summer to keep him around long-term.

This would be a similar situation to the Tobias Harris idea for Charlotte -- a veteran wing to come in for one year and mentor the young guys before moving on and creating cap space in his wake.

Rui Hachimura, Los Angeles Lakers ($18.3 million)

This is the least plausible idea on the list, mostly because there are plenty of people who feel that Hachimura is better than Bridges (including possibly the Lakers). However, if Hachimura gets injured or sees his value diminish for another reason, don't rule out a deal.

A one-for-one swap wouldn't work if the trade were to happen right now. The Lakers would have to include another player, but they have two other expiring contracts in the $11 million range (Gabe Vincent and Maxi Kleber), either of which would work alongside Hachimura in a deal for Bridges.

Vincent and Kleber aren't valueless players by any means, so in either case, the Hornets might have to beef up their side of the deal in the form of second-round draft capital. It feels like a lot of work just to get off Bridges' deal a year early. So again, a Lakers-Bridges trade isn't highly likely.