Mikal Bridges, Philly native and former Villanova star, ready for new phase with Brooklyn Nets

NEW YORK — Mikal Bridges got a step on De’Anthony Melton as he turned to go downhill, then scooped the ball around Joel Embiid and toward the basket. But when he caught a glimpse of Nic Claxton vying for the rebound as his potential game-winner fell off the rim, Bridges threw up his arms in frustration.

The Philly native and former Villanova star nearly put an exclamation point on his chaotic week. Bridges found out in the middle of the night that he had been traded from the Phoenix Suns to the Brooklyn Nets as part of the Kevin Durant blockbuster. He made his Nets debut Saturday night in a loss to the 76ers, the hometown team that drafted him in 2018 before immediately dealing him to Phoenix, where he blossomed into an impressive two-way wing, the NBA’s modern-day iron man, and a wildly popular player with Suns fans.

» READ MORE: Jalen McDaniels arrives ready to ‘make the most’ of his opportunity with the Sixers

Yet despite that late miss that left him “hot,” Bridges arrived in Brooklyn excited about the new phase of his career — and with no ill feelings toward his former team or about being on the other side of the Durant megadeal.

“I mean, it’s KD,” Bridges said. “I get it. I 100 percent get it. That’s just how it is. … Just being a realist at the end of the day. Obviously I’ll miss everybody there, miss my home, miss all my friends that’s back there.

“But, I mean, I get it. You’re getting Kevin Durant, bro. I would probably make that trade, too.”

Bridges’ arrival — or, more accurately, the departures of the MVP contender Durant and controversial All-Star Kyrie Irving — will change the dynamic of what had become a Sixers-Nets rivalry following last year’s Ben Simmons-James Harden deadline swap. That was clear Saturday, when the on-court intensity and surrounding atmosphere failed to match a Jan. 25 game in Philly that Sixers coach Doc Rivers compared to a boxing match. But the Nets have already built a 33-23 record to sit in fifth place in the Eastern Conference entering Monday, making them a potential first-round playoff matchup for the Sixers.

And Bridges — the 26-year-old averaging a career-high 17.3 points per game and with NBA Defensive Player of the Year potential — now has an important role in the Nets’ abrupt retool.

He knew this could be a possibility for months, when Durant requested a trade just before free agency opened on June 30 and listed Phoenix as a preferred destination. Bridges and fellow Sun-turned-Net Cam Johnson — who is such a close friend that they are affectionately known as “The Twins” — talked then about what it would be like living in Brooklyn.

New Suns owner Mat Ishbia officially taking control of the organization earlier in the week, plus the Irving trade to the Dallas Mavericks, put Bridges and Johnson back on alert. They were in Atlanta when news of the trade surfaced as Wednesday turned into Thursday. Suns teammate Damion Lee was the first to call Bridges, who confirmed he was on the move with a refresh of Twitter. The initial shock — he tweeted “Omygod lol” at 1:08 a.m. — transformed into a gathering with teammates in the hallway for a “Last Supper-type vibe.”

“[We’d] joke around and say, ‘At least we got us,’” Bridges said of him and Johnson. “Then it happened, and still to this day, at least I got my twin with me.”

» READ MORE: Now with Sixers, James Harden opens up about ‘frustrating’ tenure with Nets: ‘I didn’t ask to leave for no reason’

That transition period with the trade pending was seemingly the only way to snap Bridges’ streak of consecutive NBA games played at 400 (a mark that technically extends back to his junior year of high school). Johnson joked that Bridges was “shaking” while forced to watch the Nets’ win over the Chicago Bulls on Thursday night, before the deal became official.

“It was pregame [and] there’s like nine [or] 10 minutes on the clock and he’s like, ‘We’ve got to get out there and get to our seats,’ ” Johnson said. “I’m like, ‘Man, calm down. Breathe, breathe, breathe.’

“I’ll speak for him, I think that was a little hard for him. He was like, ‘Can we play tonight?’ ”

It is fitting that Bridges’ new destination is New York City, where many Villanova pals have relocated and sent “Hey, neighbor!” messages following the trade. That includes former Wildcats teammates Jalen Brunson, who signed with the Knicks last summer, and Josh Hart, who was traded from the Portland Trail Blazers to the Knicks at the deadline. In another fortuitous scheduling quirk, they will reunite Monday night when the Nets visit Madison Square Garden.

“I love them boys,” Bridges said. “But when it’s on the court, I don’t like them.”

Yet the Sixers were up first in another full-circle NBA moment for Bridges.

He scored a team-high 23 points, displaying the multidimensional offensive skill set he developed as a Sun and further expanded this season while All-Star Devin Booker was out with an injury. He guarded Harden full-court, the type of task he has shouldered since his rookie season. He heard the home cheering section chanting “Brooklyn Bridges!” as he shot free throws, a nickname he called “dope.” He broke out his deep-shot celebration with a point and a head bobble, a nod to how the San Diego Padres rejoice in the dugout after extra-base hits.

Yet Bridges lamented how he miscalculated the appropriate touch to put on his miss at the rim with 2.4 seconds to play. He later tweeted “Bruhhhhhh” with a frustrated face emoji and the meme of LeBron James crumpling to the floor in exacerbation, after no foul was called on his last shot in a recent loss to the Boston Celtics. And as Bridges reflected on his first game as a Net — while wearing a Flyers cap — he caught himself still referring to the Suns as “we.”

“I need to stop saying that,” Bridges said. “… I’m going to get it out.”

Consider it a byproduct of his chaotic week on the opposite end of the KD blockbuster. Now Bridges is ready to settle in with the new-look Nets.

“This feels like home already,” Bridges said.