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Suns guard Mikal Bridges recalls being drafted, then traded by Sixers

Brad Penner-USA TODAY Sports

Back in 2018, the Philadelphia 76ers were coming off a very good season where they made a playoff run into Round 2 led by their young star duo of Joel Embiid and Ben Simmons. They also had the No. 10 pick in the draft with an opportunity to add to their young core.

They ended up selecting local Villanova product Mikal Bridges. There was a lot of excitement as the Sixers were adding a very good player with 3-and-D potential while also being a local product and his mother was a Sixers employee. It looked like a perfect fit for everybody involved.

However, the Sixers then ended up flipping Bridges to the Phoenix Suns for the No. 16 pick and a future pick via the Miami Heat. The No. 16 pick ended up being Zhaire Smith who ended up only playing 13 games in two seasons in Philadelphia while dealing with an allergic reaction his rookie season as well as a variety of injuries. The pick Philadelphia acquired was then traded to acquire Tobias Harris.

Bridges has gone on to be a very productive player for the Suns and helped them reach the NBA finals in 2021. He joined former Sixers guard JJ Redick on “The Old Man and the Three” to recall the night he was drafted and then traded to the Suns:

The opportunity come and I was just like, ‘Oh my God, I’m staying home’ and I’m like, happy as hell. Ready, excited, and then go out there, get my hat, get an interview, was fake about to tear up in the interview because my mom joined the interview right after so I’m like holding my emotions in like ‘It’s not the time. Just breathe in and breathe out’. Go into media and I’m telling you JJ I’m walking into me and I see everybody in there that I’ve known since high school and college and I call them out by name like they raise their hands and I’m sitting down at desk. I’m like, ‘My guy! Like what’s up? Like, yeah, I got my hat on. Like, yeah, we’ve been talking about this’ and I walk out and the people that were escorting me, I kind of heard them they were telling me to wait. They kind of like held me after I did the media because I was suppose take my pictures and everything, and they’re like listening to something. They’re like ‘Hold on, wait’.

At that point, Bridges is confused and he is now trying to figure out where he was going next. The Suns did not work him out and all Bridges knew about the organization was Devin Booker and Deandre Ayton who went No. 1 earlier in the night:

Now I’m just reading the room…I felt the energy in the room kind of drop. So I’m looking around. I see everybody kind of just like kind of like that like ‘Damn, they did not just do that’. So I’m just like, ‘Why is everybody a little quiet now?’ You know what I’m saying? Like why is everybody quiet? And then I heard people kind of mumble and I heard trade. Like I heard like people talking and they were just like trade and I was like, ‘What do you say? I kind of intrude like ‘Wait, what?‘ They’re like, hold on, hold on, ‘I’m like, no, no, what did you say?’ They’re like, we’re trying to figure it out. I think there was a trade that happened. So I’m like, nah I’m not getting traded from Philly. Like what, bro? I had a good work out there. That was like my best workout. I was hoopin I’m like, ‘They put me through that crazy ass workout. I was dead bro, I was like ‘Man, there’s no way I’m leaving. There’s no way unless it’s [expletive] like Jimmy Butler. Somebody somebody nice as hell where they’re like ‘Alright, get this young [expletive] outta here’. They say I get traded to Phoenix and I’m sitting there, I’m like, ‘Phoenix?’ I’m like ‘I ain’t talk to one person in Phoenix. I don’t even know who the coach is in Phoenix. I don’t know who they’re GM is. I don’t know who the owner is. I don’t know anything about Phoenix. Like not one thing. Now one thing. I know Book and I know DA, DA just went one. Yeah, you know what I’m saying? So I’m just like ‘Phoenix? Man, hell no I ain’t going to Phoenix’. They’re like ‘Yeah, you’ve been traded to Phoenix’.

The Sixers could have definitely used a guy like Bridges next to Embiid and Simmons. He has since been a big help next to Booker and Chris Paul as they have built their team to contend in the NBA.

This post originally appeared on Sixers Wire! Follow us on Facebook!

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