Getty Mikal Bridges #1 of the Brooklyn Nets.
Could this be the start of a heel turn for Brooklyn Nets star Mikal Bridges?
The former Villanova and Phoenix Suns swingman has done nothing but show his affable side to fans even amid a world-changing trade that shipped him across the country. But everybody has their breaking point.
“Yall cry and whine too much @ all nba twitter fans,” Bridges tweeted on June 15. “Happy Thursday.”
To Bridges’ point, Twitter and social media, in general, have often been a great place to express one’s ideas but not a great forum for civilized discourse. Bridges has generally kept his social vitriol to his former teammates or rival baseball teams (he’s a Philadelphia Phillies fan) and has touted being different from former Nets stars Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving, and James Harden.
Well, this latest display was right out of Durant’s playbook according to one fan.
@mikal_bridges Is this Kevin Durant
“I’m the total opposite of all them dudes,” Bridges said on ‘The Pivot Podcast’ on May 20. “You’re never gonna catch me off-camera doing some crazy s***.”
Bridges has been appreciative of the love he’s been shown since coming to Brooklyn so this message would seem to be solely for the NBA Twitter crowd. Still, it is a bit of a different look for Bridges in the short time he’s been a Net.
Mikal Bridges Declines Invite From Knicks’ Josh Hart
Bridges was up to his usual activity earlier with former Villanova teammate Josh Hart, now of the New York Knicks, trying to put him onto some country music via a playlist on a streaming service on June 15. Just one day prior, Hart tweeted out that country music “isn’t that bad” which Bridges quote tweeted with a message for Hart to “lose his number”.
This time, Bridges’ message was much shorter.
Bridges also reached out to former Suns teammate, Cameron Payne, with whom he apparently had a friend wager. The Phillies took the final game of a four-game set against the Arizona Diamondbacks on June 15, their third straight win of the series.
“Can I get my money,” Bridges tweeted, tagging Payne in the post. “Go fightins.”
An earlier tweet celebrating the game’s 5-4 final score from Bridges even drew the attention of the Phillies’ social media team who had a response.
@Phillies Fightins baby
These are much more in line with what we’ve seen from Bridges online. Even his message for Payne was tamer than some of the other stuff he has said to Suns big man Jock Landale and Hart.
Mikal Bridges’ ‘Twin’ Joining Him on Team USA
“Brooklyn Nets F Cam Johnson has committed to play for Team USA’s FIBA World Cup team this summer in the Philippines, reported ESPN NBA insider Adrian Wojnarowski on June 15. “He’ll join Nets teammate Mikal Bridges on USA Basketball’s developing plans for a 12-man roster.”
Johnson joked that Bridges – who has not missed a game he was eligible to play in since high school – has been in every NBA game he’s played in during his exit interview on April 23.
Mikal Bridges and Cam Johnson on their nickname “The Twins”:
“Everything we did, we did together. We worked out together, we chilled, ate, watched film… Deandre Ayton gave us that nickname cause we do everything together, and three and a half years later we’re stuck with it.”
He was talking about NBA but he will now be able to include international tilts in the ledger.
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Nets’ Mikal Bridges Takes Shot at Fans, Draws Comparison to Suns’ Kevin Durant