Bridges is, all at once, balancing several undertakings with his supersized wingspan. He’s naturally cool, calm, and collected, and the dictionary definition of a good hang. But on the other hand, he’s the conductor of a team with playoff aspirations, and leadership is a tricky thing in a sport where most players want the ball in their hands, but there’s only one to go around. His Nets teammate, fellow 27-year-old Cameron Johnson, does not know life in the NBA without Bridges. Johnson joined the Suns in 2019, one year after Bridges, landing on a team that went 19-63 the year before. (“Listen, I don't wish that on nobody,” Bridges says of his rookie year full of despair. “It was not fun losing all them games. Nineteen wins. I always remember that 19. That was bad.”) Along with Devin Booker, Bridges and Johnson helped the Suns shine brightly again, and in 2021 they piloted the organization to its first NBA Finals appearance in 18 years. The Durant trade sent both of them packing, and the two twentysomethings—known to Phoenix fans as “the twins”—were forced to uproot the only professional lives they’d ever known. But they had each other. When I approach Johnson in the Barclays locker room and ask for some dirt on his running mate, something that the rest of the world might not understand the way he does, he is prepared.
As our dinner plates are cleared and Bridges declines dessert, the steadfast chiller begins opening up about his life outside the arena. He’s an eligible bachelor, after all, and he’d prefer to stumble into a New York rom-com moment rather than use the apps. (He says he’s not on Raya.) “I think I surprise people,” Bridges says of his dating life. “Women, they’re around a lot of athletes who pop their sh*t, this and that. I just chill. I try to meet…I don’t know. I think all that’s tough. I want it to be natural, like randomly meet somebody. But I’m also kind of at the stage now where I’m not even looking to be with anybody. Just being on my own, single and chilling.” He does have a new restaurant to add to the date rotation, though. “This is the spot!” he says with a laugh, looking around at the Odeon’s festive holiday decorations. “Tell them to get the burger.”
He might be content with being single, but he’s not totally on his own, thanks to his darling Sonny. Sonny is one of his biggest expenses, not jewelry, shiny cars, or the latest fashion drops. “I don't spend money crazy, honestly. It’s like, Amazon. When I walk my dog, I need a glove, I need this. I'll get him a new leash, new collar, if I want something, I could just…get it. I order waters all the time. Little things like that. I appreciate not having to think about or worry about my bank account. Oh, ah, I went to dinner, I can't. No! I go to dinner, and I can get what I want.” His current four-year contract—totaling $90.9 million in base salary alone—expires in the summer of 2026. Barring a re-up with the Nets before that, it will be the first time he hits free agency. Given the trajectory he’s on—right now, he’s averaging the most points, rebounds, and assists of any season in his career—Bridges could very well go from rich to richer, famous to more famous. He does a lot of thinking about fame, and its flip side, saying that he likes subverting people’s traditional idea of the up-and-coming baller. “I like when I meet people, and the first thing they get from me is like, ‘Oh, you're really calm. You're chill.’ I'm like, ‘That's great!’”
He’s seen ravenous competitors up close, enough to know that that’s not his style. (Chris Paul, he says, “had that craziness.”). He realized that he can let things go a little easier than CP3, who was his Phoenix teammate for two and a half seasons. He’s also aware of the stereotypes that surround wealthy athletes, especially NBA players and their penchant for partying, but he doesn’t even drink during the season. Part of that, preciously, is that at 27 he feels like he’s already getting old. “When I usually do drink in the summer, I drink pretty hard. I’ll just keep going. That’s how I’ve always been, and now I’ll be hurting for days, bro. It used to just be, Oh, I feel like sh*t in the morning, by end of the night I’m okay. Not anymore!” He’s been in his lane long enough to know exactly how to steer through it at a speed he enjoys. He’s just…normal.
“I mean, the life athletes live—or any famous people—you kind of get put in this box,” he says. “Being famous, you can't do this and that like an average person. So I just try to tell the world, ‘Listen bro, I'm just like you. I just play a sport.’ You know what I'm saying? I have friends, I joke around, I just play a sport and make some money.”
PRODUCTION CREDITS:
Photographs by David Cabrera
Grooming by Ryann Carter
