Mikal Bridges broke out last season upon his arrival in Brooklyn, and league executives have taken notice.
While the departures of Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving at the deadline last season slammed the Nets’ championship window shut, a glance at the annual NBA GM survey shows that the league’s top executives view Bridges as a solid rebuilding block.
Bridges was the highest-rated player for Team USA this past summer during the FIBA World Cup.
And in the GM survey, he was voted as the second-best perimeter defender in the league, behind the Celtics’ Jrue Holiday, with 13 percent of the vote.
Bridges also was selected the second best player at moving without the ball, behind Warriors superstar Stephen Curry, also with 13 percent of the vote.
The 27-year-old Nets wing was also tapped as the fourth-most versatile defender in the league, behind former MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo, Draymond Green and Bam Adebayo, with 7 percent of the vote.
He also received votes as the most likely to have a breakout season and the most versatile player in the NBA.
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Cam Thomas got a rare start Monday night, with coach Jacque Vaughn saying the 21-year-old guard has matured.
“For sure. And I think sometimes the environment that you were raised in — I’m talking about basketball environment — has something to do with it also as a young player,” Vaughn said. “So for me, it has come into his third year where I’ve seen him do the work in the offseason, I’ve seen him come into the gym with a smile on his face and appreciating that he has the opportunity to play.
“Little things like that, his communication, I think overall just being a really good teammate. He’s grown from Year 1 to Year 3. And part of that is knowing how you can affect the game on both ends of the floor, be accountable on both ends of the floor. So that was the reason for starting. He’s been doing it in camp and got rewarded.”
Center Day’Ron Sharpe twisted his ankle just two minutes into the Nets’ loss to the Lakers on Monday
“Yeah, sprained ankle. We’ll see what it looks like,” Vaughn said. “Man, I’m crushed because I know he was looking forward to playing. I was looking forward to seeing him. He gets in the very first possession, goes and tries to get offensive rebound and turns his ankle trying to box out. So at least he was trying to do the right things, right? So he’ll be OK. I feel for him that he wasn’t able to play, but we’ll see. We’ll see what happens.”
Sharpe also downplayed the injury.
“I’m good,” Sharpe told The Post
