Hornets agree to multiyear deal with Miles Bridges

The Hornets are re-signing free agent forward Miles Bridges, sources tell Shams Charania of The Athletic. According to Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN, Bridges’ new deal will be worth $75M over three years and won’t include a team or player option.

After accepting his one-year, $7.9M qualifying offer as a restricted free agent last summer, Bridges averaged 21.0 points, 7.3 rebounds, and 3.3 assists in 69 games for the Hornets last season, posting a shooting line of .462/.349/.825. His contract gave him veto rights on any trade and he told the team in February that he intended to exercise those rights rather than approve a deal elsewhere.

While that stance was partly about not wanting to lose his Bird rights, Bridges also repeatedly expressed a desire to remain in Charlotte. That interest was reciprocated by the Hornets’ front office, led by the new head of basketball operations, Jeff Peterson. The two sides have made good on those public comments by agreeing to terms nearly a week into free agency.

Bridges’ scoring ability, size, and versatility make him the sort of forward every team wants in its lineup. Still, his market in free agency was likely affected to some extent by his off-court history, which includes multiple allegations of domestic violence.

Facing three felony charges after being accused of assaulting his then-girlfriend in front of their two children, Bridges entered a plea of no contest — accepting punishment without formally admitting guilt — to one felony count of injuring a child’s parent in November 2022.

The Hornets forward received three years probation and no jail time as part of the plea deal, which led to a 30-game suspension from the NBA (he was permitted to serve just 10 games of that suspension because he spent the entire 2022-23 season out of the league while his case played out). He subsequently faced three additional criminal counts related to a separate incident, dismissed this February due to insufficient evidence.

Charlotte has been keeping Bridges’ $15M cap hold on its books during the early part of free agency. The club will use all of its cap room on other deals before going over the cap to re-sign Bridges using his Bird rights.