Mikal Bridges Would Fulfill Several Needs for the Los Angeles Clippers
Villanova’s Mikal Bridges is a talented young swingman that could become the 3-and-D wing the Los Angeles Clippers have long sought after.
Mikal Bridges isn’t regarded as a unicorn among most NBA circles, but for the Los Angeles Clippers, he would be the first of his kind in quite some time.
The decades-long wing weakness has been very well publicized within the Clippers community, and rightfully so. When guys like Luc Mbah a Moute and Matt Barnes are among the top tier, well, there’s certainly room for improvement.
Abandoning the hope for a defensive wing, the Clippers experimented with Danilo Gallinari this season. And had he played for more than 21 games, he might’ve performed how we expected on the offensive end.
Gallinari could be moved this summer, if a team chooses to take on his massive contract. And in that case, Bridges could be a solid replacement among the young Clippers core.
Related Story: Five Free Agents the Clippers could pursue
Measuring 6’7″ and 210 pounds, Bridges has the perfect frame of an NBA swingman. And with a 7’0″ wingspan, he’s a pesky, lanky defender. As a junior, Bridges managed 1.5 steals and 1.1 blocks per game.
That’s all good and well, but what’s really vaulting Bridges so high on the big board is his offensive ability.
A career 40% shooter from three, Bridges is a dangerous deep threat that put up nearly 18 points per contest in his final season at Villanova. In addition, Bridges connected on over 50% of his total field goal attempts every year.
It’s not a reach to compare Bridges to Kawhi Leonard, another name that has been prominent within the Clippers fanbase lately. While Bridges may not become the superstar that Leonard is, he certainly has the potential. The two share several physical tools, have similar offensive games, and play a similar style of basketball.
If Bridges slides to the Clippers, he could become one of the league’s next best players.