Breaking: New York Knicks Trading for Mikal Bridges

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In the second trade of the 2024 NBA offseason, the New York Knicks have made a blockbuster trade to acquire Brooklyn Nets star Mikal Bridges. As reported by Adrian Wojnarowski, the trade goes as follows:

New York Knicks Receive:

Mikal Bridges

Brooklyn Nets Receive:

Bojan Bogdanovic
Four Unprotected First-Round Picks
A First-Round Pick Via Milwaukee
An Unprotected Pick Swap
A Second-Round Pick

In his only full season with the Brooklyn Nets, Bridges put up strong averages of 19.6 PPG, 4.5 RPG, and 3.6 APG on shooting splits of 43% from the field and 37% from beyond the arc. The 2023-24 season would also be the third season in his six-year career that Bridges played all 82 regular season games. Bridges has two seasons left on his current contract before becoming a free agent in 2026. Bridges joins a stacked New York Knicks team that had one of their best seasons in decades.

Finishing as the second seed in the Eastern Conference, the Knicks’ deep playoff run ended due to numerous injuries all happening around the same time and overall fatigue. Bridges joins fellow Villanova teammates Jalen Brunson, Josh Hart, and Donte DiVincenzo, all four being on the Wildcats in 2017. Bridges, Brunson, and DiVincenzo would all return for another year, winning the NCAA Championship in 2018.

For the Knicks, this move is a clear sign they are in win-now mode. Jalen Brunson has shown he’s an MVP-caliber player while players like Hart and DiVincenzo have shown they are some of the hardest-working players in the league. With teams like the Milwaukee Bucks and Philadelphia 76ers in strange positions, the Knicks have solidified themselves as a serious threat in the East.

For the Nets, moving off Bridges is one of the best moves they could have made. Not owning many of their upcoming draft picks from the James Harden trade, gaining four first-round picks from the Knicks gives Brooklyn the potential to draft future stars in the coming years or to bundle those picks to get a new centerpiece for the franchise. The only player traded to the Nets was Bogdanovic who has only one season left on his contract. Brooklyn could keep him until the deadline to trade him to a contender for another draft pick.

With the offseason just kicking off and the first night of the 2024 NBA draft taking place tonight, it is expected that more moves will be made. The Knicks are in rumors for several other stars including Jimmy Butler and Paul George. There are questions as to what the future holds for them and other teams in the East.