Hornets' Miles Bridges Has Entered League Protocols

Alex Murray
By: Alex Murray
05/05/2021
NBA News
NBA 2020-21

Some teams simply can’t catch a break down the stretch of this NBA season.

The Charlotte Hornets are going to be without Miles Bridges for at least a few games after the forward entered the NBA’s health and safety protocols, sources told ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski on Tuesday afternoon.

The Hornets had just been made whole a few games ago when Malik Monk returned from an ankle injury that had kept him out for 15 consecutive games. Joining Monk in his return was rookie of the year candidate and No. 3 overall pick in the 2020 NBA draft, LaMelo Ball.

Rookie sensation Ball had been out with a broken wrist which was thought to be an injury that would keep the youngster out for the rest of the campaign, but once again, Ball has taken us all by surprise.

Unfortunately, he will be without his favorite partner-in-crime in Bridges, a high-flying dunker that has supplied the ‘oop’ for many a LaMelo ‘alley’ so far during an exciting and encouraging season for this youthful and exuberant Hornets squad.

Despite missing over a month with the wrist fracture, Ball remains a great NBA pick to win Rookie of the Year, boasting -500 NBA odds to win on 10Bet. Hey, we said they were great odds, not that they were offering anything in terms of value.

In terms of the overachieving Hornets, they currently sit in eight place in the Eastern Conference, which is not a bad spot for the play-in tournament. However, they’re not being given much of a chance to take the conference by storm despite their world-class commentating team and exciting brand of play, offering huge +8,000 NBA odds to win the East. Not one of our top picks, needless to say.

The returns of Ball and Monk will at least serve to blunt this loss somewhat, but they’re still without veteran Gordan Hayward, who’s been sidelined for nearly a month with a foot sprain. Forward PJ Washington also missed the team’s contest with the Detroit Pistons.

WIth Hayward already out, the last two guys the Hornets could afford to lose were Bridges and Washington. With all three out of commission, Charlotte will be very thin in the frontcourt and will need to lean heavily on their talented backcourt as well as veteran big men Cody Zeller and Bismack Biyombo to make up for the lost production.

Charlotte has lost three of their past four as of this writing, so Bridges, Washington, Hayward or not, they’re going to need to find a way to get results down the stretch. They sit in an interesting place right now where, depending on how they do in their final eight games, they could finish basically anywhere.

They currently sit just 3.5 games behind the Miami Heat, who sit safe from the play-in tourney in sixth place, but they’re also just two games ahead of the Washington Wizards in 10th place and five games in front of the Chicago Bulls and Toronto Raptors, who sit just below the play-in threshold right now in a tie for 11th. 

The next two weeks should see some of the most exciting basketball that Hornets nation has been treated to in a while. Lucky for them, no matter the outcome, they’ll have Eric Collins and Dell Curry talking them through it, and it doesn’t get much better than that duo in the booth

Alex is an alumnus of Ryerson University's RTA Sport Media program, a contributing NHL, NBA, and MLB writer in the BetPicks.ca team. He has been writing on sports, betting, and fantasy contests for several years, including pitstops as an NFL Editor for theScore and as one of the lead NBA news writers for fantasy sports site FantasyPros. As a lifelong athlete, bettor, and sports fan, Alex is uniquely qualified to help you reach the sports betting success that you've always dreamed of and your wife never believed you could achieve.

NBA - East Standings

 

NBA LogoTeamWLPCT
1Heat5329.646
2Celtics5131.622
3Bucks5131.622
476ers5131.622
5Raptors4834.585
6Bulls4636.561
7Nets4438.537
8Hawks4339.524
9Cavaliers4438.537
10Hornets4339.524
11Knicks3745.451
12Wizards3547.427
13Pacers2557.305
14Pistons2359.280
15Magic2260.268

 

NBA - West Standings

 

NBA LogoTeamWLPCT
1Suns6418.780
2Grizzlies5626.683
3Warriors5329.646
4Mavericks5230.634
5Jazz4933.598
6Nuggets4834.585
7Wolves4636.561
8Pelicans3646.439
9Clippers4240.512
10Spurs3448.415
11Lakers3349.402
12Kings3052.366
13Blazers2755.329
14Thunder2458.293
15Rockets2062.244

 

NBA Key Dates

2021-2022 Season
Regular season beginsOctober 19
NBA All-Star 2022February 18-20
Regular season concludesApril 10
Play-In TournamentApril 12-1517
Playoffs beginApril 16
NBA Finals beginJune 2
Game 7 of NBA FinalsJune 19
NBA DraftJune 23