Miles Bridges meets the Hornets side that traded him in June

Miles Bridges, who had played for Charlotte since 2018, faces his old team in a Phoenix uniform after the June trade that sent him west for Grayson Allen and Royce O'Neale. It was one of two summer deals that remade the Hornets: days earlier, they traded LaMelo Ball to Minnesota in a package that brought back Naz Reid.

The rebuilt Hornets arrive at 4-7 and short-handed. Kon Knueppel and Dennis Schröder are out with left hamstring strains, and leading scorer Brandon Miller is day-to-day with a groin issue after missing the last game. Coach Charles Lee has said Miller should return during the four-game road trip that starts in Phoenix, while Grant Williams has been cleared for contact and Moussa Diabaté is trending toward availability.

Charlotte did end a six-game losing streak on 9 November, beating Cleveland 124-112. Allen, a Sun last season, scored 27 and Reid added 25 points and 13 rebounds. The skid before it included defeats by 47, 33 and 39 points.

Phoenix, 4-6, is coming off a 133-110 rout of the Clippers on 10 November in which its bench scored 81 points and Jordan Goodwin hit six threes. The Suns remain without Mark Williams after left shoulder surgery, and the market has them as 66% favorites at home.

Was the Cleveland win the start of something for the new-look Hornets, or an outlier that Phoenix will expose?