The nova Knicks strike again. The New York Knicks are pouncing on an opportunity to win the Eastern Conference.
They have reached a somewhat shocking deal with their rival from across the bridge, the Brooklyn Nets, to acquire forward Mikal Bridges for Bojan Bodganovic, who is recovering from ankle surgery, four unprotected first-round picks, a 2025 protected first-round pick, a pick swap and two second-round picks, according to sources.
The Nets, who are in complete rebuild mode, will receive a boat load, getting the Knicks’ first-round picks in 2025, 2027, 2029 and 2031.
Bridges is one of the league’s elite two-way players and one of the most durable. He can fill up a stat sheet, averaging 19.6 points, 4.5 rebounds, 3.6 assists and 1.0 steals and shot 43.6% from the field, 37.2% from distance and 81.4% from the charity strike for the Nets in 2023-24.
The 27-year-old Bridges has played in every game possible (474), in his six-year career, and even went above and beyond the call of duty in 83 games in 2022-23 after being traded to the Nets from the Phoenix Suns in the Kevin Durant trade.
Bridges has two seasons and $48.2 million remaining on his contract. He is scheduled to be an unrestricted free agent after the 2025-26 season.
Embed from Getty ImagesThe Knicks lost to the Indiana Pacers in a hard-fought seven games series in the Eastern Conference semifinals but were ravaged by the injury bug that included crucial players Julius Randle, Bogdanovic, OG Anunoby and Mitchell Robinson. Even their best player and leader Jalen Brunson was not immune and was knocked out of the Game 7 defeat with a broken hand.
The Knicks also continue to assemble former Villanova players. With the addition of Bridges, the Knicks will have a quartet of players who went to Villanova and won a championship together: Bridges, Brunson, Josh Hart and Donte DiVincenzo. All four played together on Villanova’s 2016-17 team under Hall of Fame coach Jay Wright. Brunson, Bridges and DiVincenzo were still there when the Wildcats won again in 2018.
They are clearly over the moon and cannot wait to get the crew back together.
“This is crazy lol,” Bridges wrote on his social media platform after the deal was reported.
This was extremely unusual, being the first trade between the two franchises since 1983 when the Knicks traded a second-round pick to the Nets for Len Elmore.
Brooklyn was not done just yet, also reaching a deal with the Houston involving draft picks. The Nets will get a 2025 pick swap and a 2026 first-round pick from Houston, and the Rockets will get a 2027 first-round pick, a 2029 first-round pick and a 2025 first-round pick swap, according to ESPN. It is a complex, yet interesting deal that involves picks from Phoenix, Dallas and Oklahoma City. The Nets are in full-on tank mode, and the Rockets are looking to improve their roster significantly by trading draft picks for a proven championship level player, according to ESPN.