Mikal Bridges Trash-Talked His Own Mother While Growing Up

Talking trash during intense games makes it that much more fun for fans. NBA GOATs like Michael Jordan, Larry Bird, and Kobe Bryant, among others, were great trash-talkers, but you don’t expect it from every athlete. Mikal Bridges falls into the category of athletes who seem too nice to talk smack.

Bridges has had the reputation of a hard worker and a good guy from the beginning. However, that is far from the truth. The 28-year-old’s trash-talking lessons began when he was a baby.

During a conversation with The Athletic, Bridges revealed that he used to talk trash to his mother when they played tennis together. The early beginnings have led him to this point where he says something after every bucket.

Bridges admitted, “I trash-talked my mom in tennis growing up. It’s good energy.”

The Knicks star sees trash-talking as an inseparable part of his game. As per Bridges, talking trash used to bring out the competitive fire in his mother, so now he applies the same technique to motivate himself on the floor.

His approach to talking trash is backed by the same logic. He tries to rile up his opponents to get the best out of himself. Bridges said, “When you talk to someone, you get the best out of them and they get locked in. That’s what I want.”

Outside of trash-talking, there are several other things that Bridges credits his mother for teaching him.

The Knicks forward is inspired by his mother’s work ethic, who led by example and showed him how to be a hard-working individual. All the good qualities rubbed off on him and today he is recognized for his hard work and dedication to the game.

Bridges credits his mother

Tyneeha Rivers raised her son as a hard-working single mom. Their days of struggle laid the foundation of the athlete that Bridges has now become. His ability to thrive under pressure also comes from his mother’s resilience, who was a breadwinner while completing her education.

She once told The Post, “I had to just grind. Just coming from very humble beginnings, coming from a tough neighborhood, and being able to push forward and achieve my own personal goals…He was part of that. We kind of grew up together. He was able to see that hustle and grind, what grit and determination really looks like early on. And it was easy to pass on to him.”

She said that these values were easily transferrable because Bridges used to look up to his mom in awe.