Miles Bridges exercises trade veto power, stays with Hornets

Forward Miles Bridges, one of the top potential trade targets on the market, has informed the Charlotte Hornets that he will not approve any trades and will remain with the team past Thursday's deadline, agent Rich Paul told ESPN.

Bridges has trade veto power as part of his one-year, $8 million deal. This decision will allow the Hornets to hold Bridges' Bird rights into the summer, when he will become an unrestricted free agent.

The Hornets could then re-sign Bridges to a long-term deal or sign-and-trade him to another team. Had Bridges agreed to be traded before the deadline, he would have lost his Bird rights and potentially limited his free agency options.

The Hornets and Bridges worked together in recent days on trade options. Several contenders, notably the Phoenix Suns, had showed interest in acquiring Bridges.

Bridges is averaging a career-best 21.9 points per game this season and has two 40-point games this week, including a career-high 45-point performance in Wednesday's loss to the Toronto Raptors.

He became just the fourth Hornets player to record back-to-back 40-point games, joining Glen Rice (twice), Kemba Walker and Terry Rozier.