The Golden State Warriors have made no secret about their desire to land a long-term upgrade over disgruntled forward Jonathan Kuminga. The wheels have been in motion since the 2025 offseason, with Charlotte Hornets swingman Miles Bridges one of their many rumored trade targets.
Thankfully, the Warriors have been saved from a potentially disastrous trade with Charlotte reportedly opting to keep Bridges beyond the deadline.
Charlotte is 23-28 overall, but it's 12-4 over its past 16 games and ranks No. 1 in the NBA in net rating during that time. With a healthy rotation and a steady flow of elite results, the Hornets are seemingly going all-in on what they have.
According to Sam Amick of The Athletic, the Hornets are expected to keep Bridges on the roster past the 2026 NBA trade deadline.
"While there is significant interest around the league, with the Bucks, Warriors and Phoenix Suns known to covet what the 27-year-old brings on the floor, a league source close to Bridges said he is highly likely to remain past the deadline."
With Charlotte dominating and Golden State shifting its attention to Giannis Antetokounmpo, the front office has seemingly been saved from making a mistake with Bridges.
Hornets expected to keep Warriors trade target Miles Bridges
Bridges is a solid and productive player who offers value as a scorer, isolation defender, and even supporting playmaker. He's averaging 18.3 points, 6.1 rebounds, and 3.5 assists per game in 2025-26, and averaged upward of 20.0 points per contest in each of the previous three seasons.
Though that's appealing on the surface, Bridges' strengths and weaknesses are far too similar to Kuminga's for this to be viewed as an actual upgrade.
Clearly, there's something to be said for removing the element of Kuminga's discontent from the rotation. The unfortunate reality, however, is that Bridges is a subpar three-point shooter and a questionable off-ball defender.
Through seven seasons, Bridges is a career 33.8 percent shooter who has only shot at least 33.8 percent from beyond the arc in two campaigns.
As such, the Warriors were saved from making a trade for an older version of Kuminga. Bridges is at a stage of his career where it's safe to assume that he is who he is and dangerous to presume that he'd make meaningful changes to his general approach simply based on a change of scenery.
Thankfully, the Warriors can now proceed with trade options that better fit what they need instead of completing what would've amounted to a lateral move.