Mikal Bridges

Mikal Bridges (born August 30, 1996) is an American professional basketball player for the Phoenix Suns of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played college basketball for the Villanova Wildcats, winning national championships in 2016 and 2018. Bridges was selected with the tenth overall pick by the 76ers in the 2018 NBA draft before being traded to the Suns on draft night. He has been nicknamed “The Warden”. Bridges is the son of Jack Bridges and Tyneeha Rivers, who gave birth to him at the age of 19 and raised him as a single mother. He grew up in Overbrook, Philadelphia, and nearby neighborhoods. He moved to Malvern, Pennsylvania in middle school. His second cousin is former La Salle player Tyrone Garland. Bridges attended Great Valley High School in Malvern, Pennsylvania, where he was coached by Jim Nolan. He began to get serious about basketball in his sophomore year when he had a growth spurt to reach 6–6. As a junior, he averaged 20 points and eight rebounds per game. During his senior season, he was named First Team All-Class AAAA. He posted averages of 18.5 points, 7.2 rebounds, 2.4 assists, 2.4 blocks, and 1.6 steals per game as a senior. Bridges was named to the Philadelphia Inquirer's All-Southeastern Pa., boys basketball first team as a senior. In his career, he had 1,340 points and 511 rebounds. Coming out of high school, he was ranked by ESPNU as the 82nd best player nationally, and committed to Villanova in June 2013.