{"id":819602,"date":"2026-07-23T22:44:10","date_gmt":"2026-07-23T22:44:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/819602\/"},"modified":"2026-07-23T22:44:10","modified_gmt":"2026-07-23T22:44:10","slug":"pacific-notes-bridges-suns-warriors-mpj-lakers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/819602\/","title":{"rendered":"Pacific Notes: Bridges, Suns, Warriors, MPJ, Lakers"},"content":{"rendered":"

Speaking to reporters on Wednesday at an introductory press conference for offseason trade acquisition Miles Bridges<\/a>, Suns general manager Brian Gregory said the team conducted a \u201cthorough evaluation\u201d of the forward\u2019s history of off-court transgressions, including a felony domestic violence charge that resulted in a plea deal<\/a> and three years of probation, and didn\u2019t make the decision to trade for him<\/a> lightly.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe also looked into was there accountability taken? \u2029Was there remorse? Was he growing as a person off the court?\u201d Gregory said, according to Duane Rankin of The Arizona Republic<\/a>. \u201cWhen we put all those together, we came to the conclusion and feel very, very, very strongly about the fact that he does and will live up to the standards that we have here. That he is a good cultural fit, and character fit.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe basketball piece, obviously, we knew, but when you combine those two together, then we felt very, very comfortable, and comfortable isn\u2019t even the right word. We were excited. \u2029We were excited about what he could bring and then we went from there.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bridges said he was in counseling \u201cfor years\u201d after facing those initial domestic violence charges in 2022. He was a free agent for the entire 2022\/23 season while the case played out and then was suspended for the first 10 games of the 2023\/24 season after pleading no contest and re-signing in Charlotte.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s mixed feelings about me being here, but, you know, I take full responsibility, you know, my actions,\u201d Bridges said. \u201cI\u2019ve been to counseling. I\u2019ve been to therapy. Right now, I\u2019m just prioritizing, just being better as a man every day, on and off the court, mainly off the court and just being a great father and earning the trust of this fan base and this community. I can\u2019t wait to get started. I\u2019m very excited.\u201d<\/p>\n

We have more from around the Pacific:<\/p>\n

Asked about Phoenix\u2019s willingness to give up an unprotected 2033 first-round pick in the trade with Charlotte, Gregory said the team felt \u201cvery comfortable\u201d parting with that pick for a player of Bridges\u2019 caliber, per Rankin. The Suns\u2018 general manager noted that the team received a separate first-rounder in the deal (a 2029 pick with \u201cleast favorable\u201d terms) and expressed confidence that \u201cwe\u2019re always gonna be good,\u201d meaning that unprotected selection should be in the back half of the first round.
\nMonte Poole of NBC Sports Bay Area<\/a> believes LeBron James<\/a>\u2018 and Jimmy Butler<\/a>\u2018s overlapping skill sets would make the duo an awkward fit if James were to sign with the Warriors and Butler were to return from his ACL tear later during the 2026\/27 season. It may be a moot point, since Golden State is said to be pessimistic about its chances of landing LeBron, but Poole suggests it\u2019s another reason why a potential Butler\/Anthony Davis<\/a> trade has become such a popular subject of speculation.
\nPrevious reporting<\/a> suggested the Warriors considered a deal for Nets forward Michael Porter Jr.<\/a> at the 2026 trade deadline but decided not to pull the trigger. Within a larger story this week about James\u2019 looming decision, Kevin O\u2019Connor of Yahoo Sports<\/a> cites sources who say that head coach Steve Kerr, specifically, was opposed to the Porter trade in February.
\nThe Lakers announced their preseason schedule<\/a> earlier this week, revealing that they\u2019ll play road games in Sacramento and Golden State on October 5 and 6 to open their preseason slate before hosting the Kings on Oct. 8 and the Nuggets on Oct. 16. They\u2019ll also face the Warriors at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas on Oct. 13.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Speaking to reporters on Wednesday at an introductory press conference for offseason trade acquisition Miles Bridges, Suns general…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":819603,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[557],"tags":[64,63,7902,7896,5549,207815,590,85,58049],"class_list":["post-819602","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nba","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-jimmy-butler","tag-lebron-james","tag-michael-porter-jr","tag-miles-bridges","tag-nba","tag-sports","tag-steve-kerr"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/819602","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=819602"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/819602\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/819603"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=819602"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=819602"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=819602"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}