Charlotte Hornets star Miles Bridges had the chance to see his young daughter graduate from preschool on Wednesday – just hours after complaining that he was barred from seeing his children.
Bridges posted a series of troubling messages on Instagram earlier this week, claiming the mother of his children had not let him see them for more than a month.
‘It should never be this hard to be a father,’ the 27-year-old wrote. ‘Enough is enough.’
Those messages were later deleted and, on Wednesday morning, the Hornets forward uploaded a couple of pH๏τos to his Instagram story showing him with his five-year-old daughter, Ayla Marie.
‘Congrats to my babygirl!’ Graduated from Preschool today,’ he wrote alongside a picture from the ceremony to celebrate the class of 2025.
Bridges sat out all of the 2022-23 NBA season as a result of a domestic violence case from June 2022. He was accused of ᴀssaulting the mother of his children in front of them in Los Angeles.
Hornets star Miles Bridges had the chance to see his young daughter graduate from preschool
The NBA player had recently claimed he was barred from seeing his children by their mother
Last year, meanwhile, criminal charges – related to a separate incident that resulted in damage to a vehicle – were dropped due to ‘insufficient evidence’. He had been facing three charges for an alleged violation of a domestic violence protection order, misdemeanor child abuse and injury to personal property.
Earlier this week, Bridges wrote on Instagram that he has ‘been asking to be with my kids since the season ended and I’ve been denied/ignored… for no reason just because I’ve moved on.’
Back in February, the NBA star’s new girlfriend Shara Bowden revealed they are expecting twins.
‘In y’all eyes I’m always gone (sic) be the bad guy. But I’m genuinely asking what should I do? I don’t wanna be falsely accused of anything again. I just want to be a father to my children and the mother of my kids won’t let me,’ Bridges continued.
‘I need help please that’s all I’m asking for… yes I have lawyers but I’m not trying (to) go months without seeing my kids before something is figured out. My youngest son’s bday is May 24 and I don’t think she’s gonna let me see him.’
Back in November 2022, Bridges pleaded no contest to one felony count of injuring a child´s parent, agreeing to do so in exchange for three years of probation and no jail time.
The 25-year-old Bridges was also ordered to complete 52 weeks of parenting classes, 52 weeks of domestic violence counseling and 100 hours of community service as part of the agreement.
‘It should never be this hard to be a father,’ the 27-year-old wrote. ‘Enough is enough.’
Before the plea, Bridges had been facing three felony charges – the one he pleaded no contest to, and two others of child abuse under circumstances or conditions likely to cause great bodily injury or death – and up to 11 years in prison.
Bridges missed the first 10 games of this season as part of a league-imposed suspension. He was officially suspended 30 games, with the NBA deeming 20 games of his ban had already been served.
Last year, meanwhile, the criminal charges were dropped because the state said in a Charlotte Mecklenburg County Court filing that prosecutors would ‘not be successful at trial.’ The woman who accused Bridges gave conflicting stories of what happened, authorities said.
‘Given the lack of sufficient evidence necessary to overcome the inconsistency of these accounts, the state would not be successful at trial,’ the court documents signed by prosecutor Samantha Pendergrᴀss said.