Breaking Down the Charlotte Hornets' Decision to Trade Miles Bridges to Phoenix

After countless rumors, the Charlotte Hornets have reportedly traded Miles Bridges.

The veteran forward will officially join the Phoenix Suns when the trade can legally get processed on July 6th, bringing an end to Bridges' tumultuous eight-year tenure in Charlotte.

The full trade is as follows.

Charlotte receives: Grayson Allen, Royce O'Neale, and Phoenix's 2023 unprotected first-round pick

Phoenix receives: Miles Bridges, a 2029 first-round pick (least favorable of Utah, Cleveland, and Minnesota), and a 2027 second-round pick (least favorable of Orlando and Boston).

Why the Hornets made this move

The best asset in this deal is Phoenix's 2033 unprotected first round pick, and it is coming to Charlotte. Future first-round selections are worth their weight in gold on the trade market, and Jeff Peterson turned one that had meager value (the 2029 first that would have been the worst of three different teams) into one that has top selection in the draft upside just a few years later.

While you can quibble with some parts of Jeff Peterson's roster reconstruction (I still have my reservations about the LaMelo Ball trade), you can't argue that he has set up the Hornets with a stockpile of assets that can rival any franchise in the league.

And while I understand that future picks and financial flexiibilty don't sell season tickets, they should turn into the type of player that does.

In the immediate, Royce O'Neale and Grayson Allen are a downgrade from Bridges talent wise, but they could provide value to Charlotte assuming they don't get re-routed this offseason.

According to Dunks and Threes, Allen was the second-most effective player on the Suns last year. In nearly 30 minutes per game, the former Duke Blue Devil (who I'm sure you who is reading this has some sort of feelings about) averaged career-highs in points (16.5) and assists (3.8).

He is still one of the league's premier three-point marksman, ranking in the 97th percentile in terms of expected three-point accuracy and 99th percentile in expected three-point volume per Dunks and Threes. He's the perfect depth piece to backup Kon Knueppel and Brandon Miller on the wing to provide Charlotte's bench a safe floor in terms of spacing and secondary playmaking.

O'Neale is coming off of the worst season of his career and, in my opinion, more likely than Allen to get dealt in another move this offseason. The Hornets could use him as a backup small forward, though, and extend Liam McNeeley's runway to being a player in Charlotte's rotation. Royce O'Neale is another floor-spacer who can bang on the glass and provide some defensive playmaking as well.

Both Allen and O'Neale are on the books for 2027-28 (assuming Allen picks up his $19M player option), which is why Charlotte was able to extract the added pick value from Phoenix. If the Hornets don't move either of them before next summer, they will be even more valuable on the trade market in 2027 when their salaries become expiring.

As it stands, Charlotte's roster is as follows:

Point Guard: Coby White / Christian Anderson / Tre Mann
Shooting guard: Kon Knueppel / Grayson Allen / Sion James
Small forward: Brandon Miller / Royce O'Neale / Liam McNeeley
Power forward: Naz Reid / Grant Williams / Tidjane Salaun
Center: Moussa Diabate / Ryan Kalkbrenner / Hannes Steinbach

I would assume that the deck chairs in Charlotte aren't done being shuffled quite yet. Jeff Peterson is one of the league's more active general managers, and with all of the assets in his back pocket along with the capacity to acquire even more, this 15-man group feels liable to change again once free agency opens up on Tuesday.

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