Bridges will veto trade, stay with Hornets

Charlotte Hornets forward Miles Bridges will not approve any trades prior to Thursday's 3 p.m. ET deadline, his agent Rich Paul told ESPN's Brian Windhorst.

Bridges, who's averaging a career-high 21.9 points, will remain with the Hornets for the remainder of the 2023-24 season.

Bridges possesses a no-trade clause in his contract as a result of the one-year, $7.9-million qualifying offer he signed with Charlotte this past summer. By staying put, the Hornets retain his Bird rights, allowing them to offer more money to the pending unrestricted free agent.

The Phoenix Suns were reportedly interested in trading for Bridges, according to The Arizona Republic's Duane Rankin, though it's unclear how many teams were in the running for the 25-year-old.

The former Michigan State player didn't play last season as he went without an NBA contract while facing a charge of felony domestic violence following an incident involving the mother of his children in June 2022. He later entered a plea of no contest in November 2022 as other charges were dismissed and received a three-year probation sentence but no jail time.

The NBA subsequently launched its own investigation and issued a 30-game suspension. However, the league ruled 20 games of his suspension were already served as a result of him not signing a contract for 2022-23, allowing him to return after missing the first 10 games of 2023-24. Prior to the start of the campaign, he turned himself into police in October after allegedly violating a protection order stemming from the domestic violence case. As a result, Bridges has a pending court date this month.