On Monday night, Mikal Bridges was announced as a starter at the Wells Fargo Center.
The Villanova product and Philadelphia native, clad in Phoenix Suns purple and orange, played in front of friends and family in a 119-114 loss to his hometown 76ers, the team that drafted him and traded him.
Bridges isn't playing for the team he thought he would be on. Instead, he's on a team with a 3-14 record after a loss to the Chicago Bulls Wednesday that is last in the Western Conference. But, he might be better off with Phoenix than he would have been had the Sixers kept him.
June 21, 2018 is not a date Bridges or his family is likely to forget.
"We thought he was definitely going to be with the Sixers," Bridges father, Jack, said Monday night.
There was no reason to think otherwise. They picked him.
Two championships in three seasons at Villanova sent Bridges from the Main Line to the main stage. He was selected No. 10 overall by the Sixers, the team that his mother, Tyneeha Rivers, works for; the team he grew up loving. He spoke to reporters about how blessed he was to be a Sixer.
What happened next was a whirlwind. The Sixers took an offer they couldn't pass on, sending Bridges to Phoenix for the 16th pick, Zhaire Smith, and an unprotected 2021 first-rounder.
"The business of the NBA," Jack Bridges said. "We learned it firsthand in that moment."
"It was all excitement and hugs, and then it was a bummer when we heard about the trade," Bridges' cousin Sanie Tyler said.
