Mikal Bridges, Cam Johnson Give Reactions to Nets Trade
The dust is beginning to settle on the trade that landed Kevin Durant and TJ Warren in Phoenix, yet fans in the Valley are still feeling the emotional toll of losing players such as Cam Johnson and Mikal Bridges.
Both players began their careers with the Suns and grew up in front of the 17,000+ fans that pack the Footprint Center on a nightly basis.
Yet the NBA is a business, and both former Suns know now if they didn't already.
Bridges and Johnson spoke about their reactions to the trade after their first taste of action with the Brooklyn Nets in the 101-98 loss to the Philadelphia 76ers.
"We were in Atlanta," said Johnson, who pitched in 12 points, seven rebounds and three assists.
"We were on east coast time. We had just come from Brooklyn that day. I was just doing a little bit of treatment, getting ready for bed. I tell people all the time, I was just minding my business getting ready for a game the next day. Then I got a couple phone calls and I was like 'huh?', and I called Mikal straight away. He came straight up to my room and then a bunch of the guys from the Suns came in the hallway and we were talking, but it was crazy.
"Obviously we had known that these rumors were flying around for a handful of months now, but to see it actually executed at that time - there's still a little shock value to it - but quickly I felt like we adjusted. [We] got here, got as settled as we could be and got ready for tonight."
Bridges then shared his own experience.
"I was just chillin on my iPad. Damion Lee, he called me. He was upset, you could just see it. He was like, 'bro I'm sorry' and this and that, I was so confused ... He was like 'you got traded for KD' and I was like 'get out of here' and I went to Twitter - I refreshed it and it was right there," Bridges said.
"Then I tweeted. My agent ended up calling me and then after I got off the phone with them I called Cam and I'm just like 'bruh, where are you? What room are you in? I'm coming up there, this is crazy'. Like he said, we were out there [with] former teammates, we're all just chillin out there, it was kind of like a Last Supper-type vibe. But like he [Johnson] said, we kinda knew. There were a lot of jokes, especially in the summer. So when KD wanted to come here we knew the pieces and who might be the ones that were gonna go, and us two were the main two."
Bridges - who poured in 23 points and six rebounds of his own - said he understands the transaction.
"It’s KD, I get it," Bridges said. "I would rather get traded for KD than someone I didn’t feel was good… It’s Kevin Durant. I would probably make that trade, too.”
