Mikal Bridges

Bridges redshirted his freshman season and assisted in scouting players.[7] In his first year with Villanova he appeared in all 40 games for the Wildcats. He said he had to do a lot of lifting weights and changing his three-point shot.[8] He had a key role coming off the bench in the 2016 NCAA Tournament, scoring 11 points in a Final Four rout of the Oklahoma Sooners. Bridges won the NCAA championship along with his teammates for the school for the first time since 1985. He averaged 6.4 points, 3.2 rebounds and 1.1 steals per game as a freshman.[5] "He came in as a high school scoring phenom like they all do, so I'm really proud of how he has opened up his game defensively," coach Jay Wright said.[9]

Bridges dunking against DePaul in 2017

Coming into the 2016–17 season, Bridges was slated to be the team's sixth man but started every game after Phil Booth went down with a knee injury in November. As a sophomore, Joe Juliano of The Philadelphia Inquirer wrote, "If there is such a thing as a five-tool player in college basketball, Mikal Bridges is the model."[8] He became well-regarded as a lanky forward who could score and play excellent defense and often guarded the opposing team's best player.[9] In the NCAA Tournament, he scored 13 points to help Villanova to a first round victory over Mount St. Mary's. Bridges averaged 9.8 points and 4.6 rebounds per game while making 54 percent of his field goal attempts and 39 percent of three point tries.[5] He improved his scoring as the season progressed, averaging 12.3 points in his last 12 games of the regular season. Along with Creighton's Khyri Thomas and teammate Josh Hart, Bridges was one of three Big East defensive player of the year honorees, being third in the conference in steals with 1.9 per game.[8]

He was named to the 2017–18 preseason All-Big East second team.[10] Bridges hit all six 3-point tries in a 24-point performance against Lafayette on November 17.[11] On December 4, he scored a career-high 28 points to go with six rebounds and two blocks in an 88–72 victory over Gonzaga.[12] Bridges scored 23 points in an overtime win against Seton Hall on March 2, 2018.[4] At the conclusion of the regular season, he joined Jalen Brunson on the All-Big East first team.[13] He was named MVP of the Big East Tournament after scoring 28 points in the title game, a 76–66 overtime win over Providence.[14]

As a junior Bridges averaged 17.7 points and 5.3 rebounds per game on 51 percent shooting, including 43.5 percent on 3-pointers. He received the Julius Erving Award for best small forward.[15] On April 10, 2018, Bridges announced his intention to forgo his final season of collegiate eligibility and declare for the 2018 NBA Draft, where he was the 10th selection in the first round by the Philadelphia 76ers. He was later traded to the Phoenix Suns in exchange for the 16th pick, Zhaire Smith, and an unprotected 2021 first round pick.[16]

On June 21, 2018, Bridges was selected with the tenth overall pick by the Philadelphia 76ers in the 2018 NBA draft. Besides being a Philadelphia-area player (and the first of four Villanova players drafted this year), Bridges' mother, Tyneeha Rivers, is the Vice President of Human Resources for Harris Blitzer Sports and Entertainment, which hires for the 76ers.[17] Soon afterward, he was traded to the Phoenix Suns in exchange for draft rights to Zhaire Smith (16th pick) and a future first round pick.[18] Bridges would then join the Phoenix Suns' 2018 NBA Summer League squad alongside #1 pick Deandre Ayton and the rest of the team's younger players on July 1, 2018.[19] He would sign his proper, rookie-scaled contract with the Suns five days later.[20] In his Summer League debut, Bridges recorded 14 points on nearly perfect shooting (including 4/5 from the three-point line) and 3 rebounds in a 92–85 win over the Dallas Mavericks.[21] On October 6, it was announced that Bridges would miss the remainder of the preseason with an elbow injury.[22]

Bridges later returned in time to play in the last 11.5 seconds of the team's regular season opener to make his professional debut in a blowout 121–100 win over the Dallas Mavericks on October 17, 2018.[23] Three days later, Bridges recorded his first points, rebounds, and assists of his professional career with 10 points, 4 rebounds, 2 assists, and 2 steals in a blowout loss against the Denver Nuggets.[24] On November 14, he made his first career start in place of Trevor Ariza,[25] scoring eight points in 25 minutes in a 116–96 win over the San Antonio Spurs.[26] On February 2, 2019, Bridges recorded a season-high 20 points in a 118–112 loss to the Atlanta Hawks.[27] On February 25, Bridges put up a season-high 8 assists to help the Suns break a franchise-record 17-game losing streak to win 124–121 over the Miami Heat.[28] From January 22 until March 6, Bridges would get at least one steal in each game played throughout that time. He became the first rookie since Chris Paul to obtain a steal per game throughout a 20-game stretch.[29] It was also the second-longest stretch for a rookie in franchise history behind Ron Lee.[30] At the end of the season, Bridges became the only Suns player to play in all 82 games for the regular season.

On November 19, 2019, Bridges matched his career-high of 20 points in a 120–116 loss to the Sacramento Kings.[31] On December 14, he grabbed a career-high 10 rebounds in his first start of the 2019–20 NBA season in a 121–119 overtime loss to the San Antonio Spurs in Mexico City.[32] Bridges then matched his career-high 10 rebounds two days later in a 111–110 loss to the Portland Trail Blazers.[33] On January 18, Bridges scored a season-high 26 points on 6-8 three-point shooting in a 123–119 win over the Boston Celtics.[34] On March 8, Bridges got his first double-double with 21 points and matching his career-high of 10 rebounds in a 140–131 win over the Milwaukee Bucks.[35] In the 2020 NBA Bubble, Bridges started in all eight games at small forward for the Suns, being a major part in helping them win all eight games there.[36]

On January 9, 2021, Bridges recorded a new career-high of 34 points in a 125–117 win over the Indiana Pacers.[37] He also helped the Suns start their season with a 7–3 record, their best 10-game start to a season since 2009.