{"id":819849,"date":"2026-07-23T01:44:15","date_gmt":"2026-07-23T01:44:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/819849\/"},"modified":"2026-07-23T01:44:15","modified_gmt":"2026-07-23T01:44:15","slug":"phoenix-suns-introduce-miles-bridges-defend-decision-to-add-him-after-domestic-violence-issues","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/819849\/","title":{"rendered":"Phoenix Suns introduce Miles Bridges, defend decision to add him after domestic violence issues"},"content":{"rendered":"

PHOENIX (AP) \u2014 Phoenix Suns<\/a> forward Miles Bridges<\/a> appears to be a good fit for his new team on the basketball court, giving it a beefy frontcourt presence who has scored at a high level over seven NBA seasons.<\/p>\n

The problem is his troublesome off-the-court history \u2014 including pleading no contest to a felony domestic violence charge in 2022 \u2014 has mostly overshadowed his arrival.<\/p>\n

The 28-year-old Bridges said he\u2019s very aware that some Suns fans aren\u2019t thrilled that he\u2019s now with the franchise.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s mixed feelings about me being here,\u201d Bridges said during his introductory press conference on Wednesday. \u201cBut I take full responsibility for my actions, I\u2019ve been to counseling, I\u2019ve been to therapy. Right now I\u2019m prioritizing just being better as a man every day, on and off the court.<\/p>\n

\u201cMainly off the court.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Suns acquired Bridges, a 2029 first-round pick and a 2027 second-round pick in exchange for guard Grayson Allen<\/a>, foward Royce O\u2019Neale and a 2033 first-round pick in a trade on June 28.<\/p>\n

Gregory, Bridges have long relationship<\/p>\n

Suns general manager Brian Gregory said the franchise felt comfortable bringing Bridges to the desert despite his \u201cunacceptable conduct that has occurred in the past.\u201d <\/p>\n

Gregory\u2019s relationship with Bridges goes back roughly a decade to when the GM was a consultant at Michigan State and Bridges was a freshman with the Spartans. The Suns\u2019 ties with the Michigan State are deep \u2014 owner Mat Ishbia was a walk-on player for the Spartans in the late 1990s and early 2000s, while coach Jordan Ott spent time with the program as a video coordinator from 2008 to 2013.<\/p>\n

Gregory said he\u2019s confident that Bridges has grown since his arrest, but that he would have to earn the trust of the Suns\u2019 fans.<\/p>\n

\u201cThose questions are part of his story,\u201d Gregory said. \u201cHe\u2019s dealt with them before and he\u2019ll deal with them today as well. I think those questions \u2014 we were aware of and we knew about \u2014 and that\u2019s why we took this decision so seriously.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bridges was arrested in June 2022 on the eve of free agency on charges including felony child abuse and injuring a child\u2019s parent. The NBA forced him to to sit out while his legal case was pending and he ultimately pleaded no contest.<\/p>\n

Bridges was suspended for 30 games in April 2023 by the league but received a 20-game credit because he missed the entire 2022-23 season. Bridges also faced three charges for an alleged violation of a domestic violence protection order on Oct. 6, 2023, before the case was eventually dropped.<\/p>\n

Bridges\u2019 on-court role<\/p>\n

From a basketball perspective, it\u2019s easy to see why the Suns thought Bridges would be a good addition.<\/p>\n

The 6-foot-7, 225-pounder averaged 17.1 points, 5.8 rebounds and 3.2 assists last season for the much-improved Hornets, who made it to the play-in tournament but fell just short of the NBA playoffs. He\u2019s also a versatile defender and rebounder who can play multiple spots.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was just a perfect fit for us,\u201d Gregory said. \u201cEverything that we\u2019re about as a team when it comes to how you feel when you watch us play \u2014 the grit, the energy, the toughness that we play with, the competitiveness we play with, Miles Bridges<\/a> brings that every single day when he walks out on the court.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bridges joins a Suns core that includes five-time All-Star Devin Booker<\/a>, Dillon Brooks<\/a>, Jalen Green<\/a> and Mark Williams<\/a>. Phoenix was one of the league\u2019s surprise teams last season, winning 45 games and making the playoffs despite trading superstar Kevin Durant<\/a> during the previous offseason.<\/p>\n

Bridges said he was grateful to the Hornets for giving him a second chance after his legal issues. He said it\u2019s his job to not only earn the trust of the fans, but also his new teammates.<\/p>\n

\u201cI definitely want to earn the trust of my teammates first,\u201d Bridges said. \u201cMaking the locker room comfortable, having guys that want to be around me … is huge. And that definitely goes into on-the-court stuff.\u201d<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

AP Sports Writer Steve Reed in Charlotte, North Carolina contributed to this story.<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

AP NBA: https:\/\/apnews.com\/nba<\/p>\n

David Brandt, The Associated Press<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"PHOENIX (AP) \u2014 Phoenix Suns forward Miles Bridges appears to be a good fit for his new team…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":819850,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[434],"tags":[49,48,459,82],"class_list":["post-819849","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nba","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-nba","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/819849","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=819849"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/819849\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/819850"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=819849"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=819849"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=819849"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}