Report: Rockets Want Mikal Bridges, Nets Prefer To ‘Add Pieces Around’ Him

According to NBA insider Kevin O’Connor of The Ringer, the Houston Rockets want to acquire Mikal Bridges from the Brooklyn Nets. 

However, the Nets prefer to “add pieces around” Bridges. 

“League sources say the Rockets have had conversation with the Grizzlies about trading down from this pick, and that the Rockets hold out hope that the Nets would be willing to move Mikal Bridges for it,” O’Connor wrote. “But those same sources say the Nets, on the contrary, prefer to add pieces around Bridges.”

The Rockets have the third overall pick in the 2024 NBA Draft. 

Bridges averaged 19.6 points, 4.5 rebounds, 3.6 assists, 1.0 steals and 0.4 blocks for the Nets this season while shooting 43.6% from the field, 37.2% from beyond the arc and 81.4% from the free-throw line. He’ll make $23.3 million next season. 

Bridges has career averages of 14.3 points, 4.1 rebounds, 2.6 assists, 1.2 steals and 0.6 blocks with the Phoenix Suns and Nets. He was the 10th overall pick in the 2018 NBA Draft. 

The Rockets tried to acquire Bridges this season, but the Nets were not interested in trading the 27-year-old.

According to NBA insider Marc Stein, the Nets had zero interest in trading Bridges to the Rockets for a package headlined by Jalen Green at this year’s trade deadline.

The Nets and Rockets missed the playoffs this year. Houston traded James Harden to Brooklyn in January 2021. 

Bridges was traded by the Suns to the Nets in the blockbuster Kevin Durant trade in February 2023. The swingman is averaging 21.2 points, 4.5 rebounds, 3.4 assists, 1.0 steals and 0.4 blocks with Brooklyn.