Are there any Power Forwards that are actual upgrades over Bridges that are available?

Discussion

So many Hornets fans are demanding Bridges be traded for this offseason, claiming that he's not good enough, but at the same time there don't seem to be much of any PFs that are both a significant upgrade over skills wise. Theres aways comments about how "we shouldnt settle for mediocre players" while claiming that Bridges is mediocre. Like fans of all teams, it seems like most of us want a fleece job.

When you think about it, Miles Bridges has a skillset thats quite hard to upgrade from in terms of athleticism, offensive ability and cultural fit.

What other power forward on the trade market:

-has some ball handling ability

-is a good enough spot up shooter that hes guarded near the 3 point line?

-has a great hook shot

-is a decent lob threat

-is ok with not ball hogging and deferring to Melo/Miller/Kon

-is healthy

-isnt overpaid

-isn't nearly washed

-doesnt have Bridges' weaknesses of low BBIQ, turnovers and bad defense?

Of the available ones:

Randle- Older, similar efficiency with spot up 3s, similar or worse defense, actual ball hog, turnover machine, slow paced, bad fit with Lee's structure

Zion- Low BBIQ, injury prone, poor effort on defense, lack of lateral quickness, complete lack of any scoring further from the rim.

Sabonis- older, No outside shot, much worse defense, older, coming off a major injury, worse ball handling

Sengun- like sabonis but even more limited

Draymond- nearly washed, poor 3 point shooting, poor finisher, turnover machine, fans would rage at him because of extracurriculars on the court

Ausar Thompson- no outside shot at all

Tari Eason- Low offensive and defensive BBIQ, coming off a terrible shooting season, no ball handling

Kelly Oubre- Same issues as bridges with less skills

Tobias Harris- nearly washed

John Collins- older, might be an upgrade ngl, but still has worse ball handling and hookshot. Also clippers will try to retain him

Obi Toppin- equally mediocre defense

Andrew Wiggins- actually a good choice, but we don't have the cap space to sign him as an FA and the heat would never trade with us unless it's a massive overpay

Kuminga- worse than Bridges in every way while having a much bigger ego and demand to be on ball

I can only think of Aaron Gordon, TM3, OG Anunoby, KAT, Giannis, Siakam, Evan Mobley, Peyton Watson, Jaden McDaniels, Bam Adebayo, Franz Wagner, Buzelis, Jalen Johnson, Onyeka Okongwu, and Scottie Barnes

In my opinion, existing power forward players that are upgrades over bridges and fit our lineup are superstars, all stars, having a breakout season or high level starter, and are almost all completely unavailable or require massive overpays, and atp it would be better to just keep bridges and build around the margins.

Posted Jun 13, 2026, 5:27 PM UTC

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