Over the last few years, Charlotte Hornets forward Miles Bridges has been a rising stud in the NBA. But lately, he has been mired in legal trouble.
In October, he allegedly threw billiard balls at the car of Mychelle Johnson, his former girlfriend, while their children were sitting inside. The balls broke the vehicle’s windshield, and the incident violated a probation and protective order sentence Bridges had already been serving.
But good news came for him on Tuesday when three criminal counts against him were dismissed.
“The Mecklenburg County (North Carolina) Superior Court dismissed three criminal counts against Charlotte Hornets forward Miles Bridges on Tuesday due to ‘insufficient evidence to warrant prosecution,’ per a court filing obtained by ESPN,” wrote Adrian Wojnarowski and Tim Bontemps.
“The court filing states that, due to conflicting statements stemming from an October incident that resulted in damage to a vehicle, ‘given the lack of sufficient evidence to overcome the inconsistency of these accounts, the state would not be successful at trial.’
“Prosecutors said in the filing that the victim, Bridges’ former girlfriend, gave conflicting statements to police and later said she was unsure how the damages were caused.”
In a previous incident that took place in June 2022, Bridges allegedly assaulted Johnson, which resulted in three felony counts against him. Two of them were ultimately dismissed, and he pled no contest to the remaining count, which resulted in him being sentenced to three years of probation.
Bridges, 25, was a first-round draft pick by the Los Angeles Clippers in 2018. He was traded on draft day along with two future second-round draft picks to the Hornets for Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, who had been taken one pick before him at No. 11.
After a quiet rookie season, Bridges started to develop during the 2019-20 campaign, and two seasons ago, he broke the 20-points-per-game barrier while getting some consideration for the Most Improved Player award.
After sitting out all of last season, the 6-foot-7 man is averaging 21.5 points and 7.1 rebounds a game, both career-highs. He’s playing on a one-year qualifying offer he agreed to during the offseason and will be a free agent this summer.
If Bridges is on his best behavior and his legal issues are fully resolved, perhaps he can set himself up for a handsome payday several months from now. The struggling Hornets could undoubtedly use his talents and skills moving forward.
More must-reads: