Miles Bridges has not been with an NBA team since last season because just prior to the opening of free agency, he was arrested on domestic violence charges after an altercation with Mychelle Johnson, the mother of his children.
According to Johnson in a since-deleted Instagram post that showed the results of her injuries, Bridges choked her and left her with a fractured wrist, fractured nose, a severe concussion, and more. Bridges ultimately pleaded no contest to the charges back in November, resulting in three years of probation, a mandatory 52 weeks of domestic violence counseling and parenting classes, and a 10-year protective order that he stays 100 yards away from and has no contact with Johnson.
Because Bridges was not part of the NBA, the league did not hand down any punishment at the time and Bridges has remained unsigned due to the incident. However, on Friday, the NBA announced a rather curious punishment for the former Hornets forward, stating they had reviewed his case and were giving him a 30-game suspension, but were allowing him to count his missed season as serving 20 games of said suspension.
The following was released by the NBA. pic.twitter.com/KyHspQ2SFi
— NBA Communications (@NBAPR) April 14, 2023
Many have questions about how the league arrived at that number and the decision to allow Bridges to count time he spent not signed to a team (and thus not receiving a paycheck) as part of a suspension from pay. It is a seemingly arbitrary number that requires some explaining from the league they have not yet provided. In essence, Bridges now faces a 10-game suspension if he is able to land on a new team, which removes one of the obstacles facing his return to the NBA which was the uncertainty of how the league would handle his case and tack on further punishment. Still, he has to find a team willing to sign him and deal with the inevitable PR hit that would bring given the details offered by Johnson of the terrible incident.
