Mikal Bridges grew up in Philadelphia as a diehard 76ers fan.

He’ll go back Saturday, leading his new team and trying to take down his childhood one.

When the sixth-seeded Nets open their first-round playoff series against the third-seeded 76ers, Bridges will have a host of family and friends on hand at Wells Fargo Center.

“It’s going to be a lot,” Bridges said. “I know it’s going to be a lot. But yeah, I don’t know how many, but there’s going to be a lot rooting for me and a lot rooting for the Sixers as well, so it’s going to be fun.”

Philadelphia runs throughout Bridges’ DNA. He grew up in the city’s Overbrook neighborhood, was All-State at Great Valley High School in Malvern, Pa., and was a two-time national champ at Villanova. A huge 76ers fan, he followed the exploits of Allen Iverson and Andre Iguodala, and seemed destined to follow in their footsteps in the 2018 draft when the Sixers picked him 10th overall — in Brooklyn, no less.

That fandom essentially ended when the 76ers — for whom his mother, Tyneeha, worked as VP of Human Resources at the time — traded him to Phoenix just 15 minutes after drafting him.

“Yeah, I was a huge Sixers fan. I mean, everybody knows that,” Bridges said. “Just grew up in Philly and grew up going all the games in the world. So yeah, definitely big A.I. big, big Iggy guy, a lot of guys. So I know pretty much everybody when I was growing up.”

Now Bridges is grown, taking the lessons he learned from Chris Paul and Devin Booker en route to the NBA Finals with the Suns in 2021, and applying them with the Nets.

“Just everybody’s got to be locked in,” Bridges said. “It’s going to a game of runs and it’s going to be tough, but just staying with it. Just trusting what we have. Feel something, talk about it. You don’t want to be, two months later, sitting at home watching or saying like, ‘We should have done this, should have done that.’

“If you feel a certain way talk to the coaches, talk to the guys and go from there. I think just holding back … it’s not the time to hold back. If you a feel a certain type of way about something, it’s gut-check time now.”

Bridges averaged a career-high 14.2 points for the Suns last season, and 17.2 up through the point in February at which he was traded for Kevin Durant. But he has gone to another level since joining the Nets, pouring in 26.1 points per game on stellar .475/.376/.894 shooting.

Already drawing opponents’ top defenders and now drawing double teams, Bridges is acutely aware of what kind of game-planning he’ll face in the playoffs.

“It’s going to be tough for sure. I know how it is: I know how game-planning for top players is. I know being the defender guarding the guy, so I know how the scout can be,” Bridges said. “It’s a challenge. And it’s great, man. It’s great for all of us. All it’s going to do is make us better.

“Just being aggressive and making the right read, that’s the biggest thing, just simple basketball sometimes. Just guarding the main guys all the time and not allowing them to break free and get out. Sometimes a simple play always works as well. If they blitz or trap, always just getting the easy [play], getting the hockey assist or getting the funnel going. Just playing good basketball, simple basketball will help.”