Mikal Bridges has been traded. First bomb on the market, with the Knicks acquiring the star of the Brooklyn Nets, Jordi Fernández’s team. In exchange they have sent Bojan Bogdanovic and have overpaid rounds of the draft: four unprotected first rounds (2025, 2027, 2029 and 2031), a 2025 protected via Milwaukee, an unprotected 2028 trade and the 2025 second round. The Knicks also take a 2026 second round pick from the Nets to close the transfer that opens the movement market in the NBA just 48 hours before the draft arrives. A transfer that leaves doubts on the court, but off it there is no room for error.
Jalen Brunson, Josh Hart and Donte DiVincenzo were one of the sensations of the year. They led New York to the conference semifinals and only injuries to almost half of the squad prevented them from sneaking into the Eastern finals against Boston. The three players, teammates at Villanova University, were key. And before free agency opens, the Knicks get the fourth piece from the 2016 Wildcats: Mikal Bridges. Together they were national champions in 2016 (Brunson, Bridges and DiVincenzo won a second in 2018) and the former Nets player reunites with his friends in the Big Apple with the goal of taking the Knicks to the next level. The perfect transfer to fight Boston.
And Bridges himself was important in closing the transfer. According to several sources, the player made his desire to play for the Knicks clear to the franchise. whether via movement or in free agency in 2027, in two summers. The Nets have accepted the player’s requests, but in exchange they have taken a massive loot from New York, an offer that cannot be rejected and far superior to what Houston or Utah put on the table.
Bridges, who came to the Nets from Phoenix in the Kevin Durant move, He becomes one of the highest value players with those five rounds and a trade, a price similar to what the Suns paid for KD. In his year and a half in Brooklyn, and 109 games, he has averaged 21.2 points with 4.5 rebounds and 3.4 assists, although he surpassed 26 points in the 27 games he played after being traded in February 2022. At 27 years old, he totaled 474 consecutive games to start his career and He is a defensive specialist, a profile that may be too similar to OG Anunoby, the most important free agent the Knicks have.
Due to the new collective agreement, by receiving more money than they send, the New York franchise is now covered by the expenses they may have this year, and The renewals of Anunoby and German center Isaiah Hartenstein are still pending. And unless they manage to release salaries in the coming days, in names like Mitchell Robinson or Julius Randle, it seems that Hartenstein has already played his last minutes with the Madison Square Garden franchise. Although the Knicks management can always surprise, as it has done for the last two years, and manage to find a way to keep almost all the important players from last season. Because it will not be New York’s last move at all if it wants to fight for the ring.
