Mikal Bridges reflects on disappointing season: ‘I just didn’t have right headspace’ (2024)

Many of the Brooklyn Nets’ 2024 exit interviews came and went without any surprises and raised eyebrows from those in attendance.

Nic Claxton, the team’s biggest unrestricted free agent, stuck to the usual when discussing his future prospects. The five-year Net called his looming free agency an “exciting opportunity,” and is looking forward to “weighing his options.”

After putting some light pressure on the incumbents, Clax then propped up Brooklyn, expressing gratitude and affection for the organization while saying he loves “everything about” the city itself: “The fashion, the culture, the pride that the people have here. We have good fans, but this year we didn’t deliver the way we wanted to. But Brooklyn, the support here definitely means a lot.”

Cam Thomas, who will be extension-eligible this summer, also played the classics. Thomas didn’t discuss his contract situation, but also threw some love Brooklyn’s way: “I love it here. I got drafted here, so I’ll always have a place for it. I never really had doubts about playing here.”

Thomas also campaigned for himself in the Most Improved Player discussion: “I should definitely be top three going from barely playing in the rotation and having little spurts in the season to going all the way up an 11-point jump to 22 points per game. Any other year, that goes noticed. But this year, it’s kind of gone unnoticed. I don’t know if it’s our record or something.”

The most interesting thing either of the two said came in the form of an off-hand comment from Claxton about Brooklyn’s ongoing search for a new head coach: “I think that will happen here sooner rather than later.”

The rest of the intrigue was provided by the franchise’s leading man, Mikal Bridges. The 27-year-old spoke vulnerably about what was a tough season for both him and the team, talking more about his mental state and emotions, rather than any X’s and O’s...

On the first day of the off-season, Bridges vented about the six-month disappointment that resulted in a 32-50 record for the first time, beyond “we didn’t have it tonight” and “we gotta be better” clichés.

He summed up the season as “tough,” then went deeper on the experience.

“You could say it was a failure. 100%. It’s tough, you know? Especially seeing the teams that are in there [the playoffs], and you just know the talent we have and things like that. I don’t think there was any part of my brain that thought that I’d be sitting here talking to you guys like this before this season ... You gotta be better. That’s the biggest thing I take from it.”

Of course, as the highly-touted face of the Nets — particularly as the centerpiece of the return for Kevin freaking Durant — Bridges took the brunt of the criticism for Brooklyn’s poor play, despite finishing fourth in the NBA in minutes and playing every game on the calendar, once again. Such is how it goes.

Bridges said it wasn’t so much the criticism that got to him, but the losing.

“I think it was really tough just personally. I got a couple gray hairs. Wanting to win and compete and being frustrated on a lot of things. Being frustrated at myself. You just gotta go through it sometimes, you know? You have expectations, you have goals and sometimes, you don’t reach those goals. Life has a funny way of just humbling you a little bit, but it’s always for the greater good.”

Bridges finished the ‘24 campaign averaging 19.6 points on 56% true shooting after putting up 26.1 points a night on 60.7% true shooting after last season's trade deadline for Brooklyn. While he is certainly a better ball-handler and playmaker than he was a season ago, that sort of dip in production — no matter the sample size — will be categorized as a disappointment. Just one of many for this season’s Nets, but perhaps the most scrutinized one.

Perhaps that’s why Bridges’ long-time teammate and close friend, Cam Johnson, stepped up to bat for him on Monday morning. Johnson dismissed the notion that Bridges’ play was a determining factor in Brooklyn’s 50 losses.

“Well, it’s not him, specifically. It’s a team-wide thing, it’s across the board, where production wasn’t in the same spot and you know, our team identity and execution wasn’t where it should be,” said CJ who called Bridges “twin.”

“And you know, because of how he played at the end of the last season, everybody went, ‘look at him,’ and had their questions and suspicions, but at the end of the day, I’m proud of him. I’m proud of him, and I’ve seen strides in his game, I’ve seen strides in the way he sees and reads the game and his ability to play with the ball in his hand and his shot-making and his overall level for the game is increasing, ever-increasing.”

The Nets and their fans certainly hope so, and Shams Charania recently reaffirmed those around the league hold the same perception of Bridges:

“Armed with a talented two-way player in Mikal Bridges, future draft picks and salary cap space and flexibility in Brooklyn, the Nets have been an appealing proposition to prospective candidates,” wrote Charania in his reporting on Brooklyn’s search for a head coach.

While Charania mentioned Kevin Young, a Phoenix Suns assistant who coached Bridges and Johnson out west, neither of the current Nets spoke in detail on Young. Both said what you’d expect, that Young is a qualified candidate and a good person, but refrained from commenting further.

With Sean Marks honing in on his next head coach, we’ll just have to wait for more information to trickle out, though a decision could be coming soon if Nic Claxton is to be believed.

But the most concrete information to come out of Brooklyn’s exit interviews on Monday came from Mikal Bridges, taking inside the attitude he carried during the season. He even admitted he was “pretty pissed off” about the infamous punt game on December 27 vs. the Milwaukee Bucks.

In the end, Brooklyn’s key wing didn’t focus too much on that game, or one skill, or even his off-season plans. He just reflected on the season that was never supposed to be, and how it made him feel.

“I think I was just too mental on myself, on wanting to win so bad and being so frustrated on things, I think it kinda took away from everything. I play the game with joy, that’s always how I played. And I think when I got people asking me, and talking to me about, ‘you don’t look the same,’ and that’s strictly off my emotions, that means something. That means that I’m not there how I wanna be.”

Whether it was mental fatigue, physical fatigue, plain old regression, or a mix of all three, Bridges was not at his best this season. In his final public address of the season, he not only admitted it, but tried to explain why, and vowed that he’d learn from this season to come back with an improved mental resolve. No matter what that process looks like for the five-year veteran, one thing is for certain: The Brooklyn Nets need Mikal Bridges at his very best.