Former Michigan State Star Lands Crucial Injury Update
Charlotte Hornets forward Miles Bridges has not played since Nov. 19 due to a knee injury, but the former Michigan State star seems to be inching toward a return.
Recently, Hornets coach Charles Lee spoke on Bridges and LaMelo Ball (who is also injured), and he revealed positive injury updates on both players.
"I would say both guys have reached the point in their return-to-play plan where they have introduced more group work, more team-setting work," Lee said Wednesday. "They went through portions of practice today and we'll see how they show up tomorrow."
#Hornets head coach Charles Lee speaks on LaMelo Ball and Miles Bridges’ injury status: pic.twitter.com/kYWcmonnUu
— Matt Alquiza (@malquiza8) December 11, 2024
Bridges is an integral part of Charlotte's offense and was averaging 16 points, 6.5 rebounds and three assists over 30.1 minutes per game on 42.5/34.8/84.8 shooting splits before going down.
Obviously, it would be nice if Bridges increased his percentages, but the Michigan State product has always angled more toward volume rather than efficiency.
In 69 games last season, the 26-year-old registered 21 points, 7.3 boards and 3.3 assists across 37.4 minutes a night on 46.2/34.9/82.5 splits.
Bridges' lack of consistency from long range has been his biggest issue offensively ever since he entered the NBA as a first-round pick of the Los Angeles Clippers back in 2018 (he was then immediately traded to the Hornets).
The Flint, Mi. native is a lifetime 34.7 percent shooter from deep and has one outlier campaign where he made 40 percent of his triples back in 2020-21.
Bridges owns a career true-shooting percentage of 56.9 percent, so he has been very pedestrian in terms of efficiency throughout his professional tenure.
However, Bridges has the ability to consistently create his own shot, and there is absolutely value in that, especially for a team that struggles offensively (like Charlotte).
The 6-foot-7 forward spent two seasons at East Lansing between 2016-17 and 2017-18, posting 17 points and 7.6 rebounds per game across both campaigns. During his time with the Spartans, he made 47 percent of his shots and 37.5 percent of his treys.
We'll see if Bridges is able to get healthy and return to the court soon in order to assist a Hornets offense that ranks 26th in the league.
Don’t forget to follow the official Spartan Nation Page on Facebook Spartan Nation WHEN YOU CLICK RIGHT HERE, and be a part of our vibrant community group Go Green Go White as well WHEN YOU CLICK RIGHT HERE.
Matthew Schmidt is a sportswriter who covers NFL, MLB, NBA and college football and basketball. He has been writing professionally since 2011 and has also worked for Bleacher Report, FanRag Sports, ClutchPoints, NFLAnalysis.net and NBAAnalysis.net. He was born and raised in New Jersey and has a rather eclectic group of favorite teams: the Boston Celtics, New York Giants and Miami Marlins.