The NBA offseason received its biggest jolt of the summer so far when the Knicks swung for the fences, trading for Brooklyn Nets wing Mikal Bridges. He now joins forces with his fellow Villanova alumni to dethrone the Boston Celtics as the top team in the Eastern Conference.
It took a solid three-and-a-half hours for me to catch my breath and calm down after reading the Tuesday night Woj bomb. Leon Rose pulled the trigger on a trade sending Bojan Bogdanovic, four unprotected first-round picks, a protected first-round pick, an unprotected first-round pick swap, and a second-round pick to the Brooklyn Nets in exchange for Mikal Bridges. Final details regarding the deal are still fluid, as the trade cannot be officially finalized until the first week of July.
The initial reactions from fans and analysts included excitement, but also pure shock at the amount of draft capital the Knicks forked over for Bridges. Going forward, the Knicks will not have any first round picks in 2027, 2029, or 2031. And outside of their war chest taking a big hit, salary concerns remain regarding how the Knicks will be able to re-sign unrestricted free-agent Isaiah Hartenstein, who is expected to receive competitive offers this summer. That being said, after re-signing OG Anunoby, the Knicks now have two of the best wing defenders and two-way players in the NBA. The orange and blue will be a defensive matchup nightmare for the foreseeable future, and their lineups will boast a ton of flexibility and versatility.
With a deal this size, there are multiple factors that contribute to its success or failure. Let’s look at the pros and cons of the NBA’s first blockbuster trade from this summer.
Pros:
As previously mentioned, the Knicks now have two of the best “three and D” players in the NBA in Anunoby and Bridges to roam the perimeter. You could make a strong argument that Anunoby was the Knicks’ most impactful player not named Jalen Brunson on the roster last season. The Knicks rarely lost with him on the court, and his absence was always felt, particularly against the Indiana Pacers, where the Knicks failed to contain Tyrese Haliburton, Andrew Nembhard, and Myles Turner in their seven-game second-round series loss. Bridges comes to the squad as a top-10 ranked wing in defensive field goal percentage (per NBA) for players that played at least 70 games. He will be able to shoulder the shared responsibility of guarding the opposing team’s best player.
Going back to OG, the former Toronto Raptor played in 50 games or less in three of the last four seasons. The addition of Bridges, who has never missed a game in his NBA career, helps to add depth and hopefully limit the amount Tom Thibodeau and needs to rely on Anunoby. Furthermore, Bridges has shot 36 percent or better from the three-point line over the last five seasons. He also ranked fourth in the NBA for three-point percentage on catch-and-shoot threes last season, and the Pacers series showed us how a deadly a team can be when it has four-to-five players on the floor who can shoot efficiently from deep. Of course, the Knicks were depleted with injuries, but adding Bridges to the Knicks starting lineup, and sprinkling him in with the second unit, will make the orange and blue extremely difficult to guard.
In his pursuit of Bridges, Leon Rose bucked a league-wide trend that saw other front offices repeatedly obsess and chase after “star” talent. Now, on the surface, this is not a bad thing. Talent wins in the NBA, but it is usually prioritized over chemistry and basketball fit to the point where big names and egos go together like cheap IKEA furniture, as opposed to a well-constructed Tetris board. The Knicks opted for the latter. Not only have the Knicks benefitted from their current collection of Villanova alumni, but their newest addition, Bridges, has already played in both a “star” role in Brooklyn and as a strong complimentary piece in Phoenix.
The six-year veteran can create his own shot, score from the mid-range, catch-and-shoot off his teammates drives, and will undoubtedly fit seamlessly into the Knicks offensive system. This version of the Knicks has the potential to look like the 2003-2004 Detroit Pistons as opposed to the Big Three Miami Heat.
Cons:
The Knicks gave up a ton of draft picks to land Bridges. There’s no way around that – even the most staunch Knicks supporter would have to acknowledge that five first-round picks (and a pick swap) for Bridges was a substantial overpay. For context, in 2023, the Phoenix Suns traded four first-round picks and a pick swap to the Brooklyn Nets for Kevin Durant. Similarly, in 2022, the Minnesota Timberwolves traded a comparable draft capital package and players to the Utah Jazz for Rudy Gobert.
However, despite the mass exodus of draft picks, the Knicks did a shrewd job of acquiring draft capital prior to this trade. The orange and blue still have first round picks in 2025 (including two protected first-round picks from the Washington Wizards and Detroit Pistons), 2026, 2028, and 2030.
I also think it’s reasonable to be a little frustrated with the process leading up to this deal, and the fact that the Knicks’ “all-in” move settled on Bridges, who despite making an All-Defensive first-team back in 2020-2021, has never been named an All-Star or received All-NBA honors. Leon Rose was extremely patient in building this team. Players like Devin Booker, Joel Embiid, and Karl Anthony-Towns had been rumored as targets for if and when the Knicks made their move for a bonafide “star.” Even though I like the Bridges trade and would rather the Knicks continue to prioritize depth and chemistry over chasing stars, I can understand if some fans feel a little underwhelmed with the final product.
Furthermore, I also wonder if the Knicks were a bit impatient with their pursuit of Bridges. SNY’s Ian Begley reported that Bridges told Nets brass he wanted to go to New York, and that his agent was informing other teams he would not sign with them long-term if they traded for him. Isn’t this the exact type of situation the Knicks have longed for? Why didn’t they have more leverage to strike a deal more on their terms instead of the Nets’ terms? It’s possible that Leon Rose and company felt that they absolutely needed Bridges to take the next step in the Eastern Conference, and that their dreams of landing an All-NBA level talent to pair with both Jalen Brunson and Julius Randle were not realistic.
Either way, the clock has been set, and one thing is clear. The Knicks are aimed and ready to go with their sights set on one thing only: the Boston Celtics. Opening night can’t come soon enough.
Let us know your thoughts in the comment section below! Stay tuned to KnicksFanTV.com for the latest Knicks news, rumors, and recaps throughout the NBA season. Subscribe to the newsletter for KFTV content and events, shop discounts, and more at bit.ly/kftvmail. And in case you missed it, check out CP The Fanchise breaking down the Mikal Bridges trade with ESPN’s Bobby Marks.
