Getty Mikal Bridges against the New York Knicks.
With 8 tradeable first-round picks, the New York Knicks have draft assets to better their team this deadline. The Knicks fan base has players they want to add and at the top of that list is former Villanova and current Brooklyn Nets star Mikal Bridges. If Bridges was moved to the Knicks, he’d be the fifth player on the team from Villanova with Jalen Brunson, Josh Hart, Donte DiVincenzo, and Ryan Arcidiacono.
A Knicks trade for Bridges would be interesting. Bobby Marks of ESPN put together a crazy deal that would land them Bridges, but also wrote that this deal isn’t going to happen. The proposed deal sends Evan Fournier, Quentin Grimes, 2024 first-round pick (from Dallas, top-10 protected), 2025 first-round pick (from Milwaukee, top-4 protected), 2025 first-round pick (from New York, unprotected), 2027 first-round pick (from New York, unprotected) and 2029 first-round pick (from New York, top-5 protected) to Brooklyn for Bridges.
“Bridges to New York is not going to happen. If you want proof, rewind the clock back to 1983. That was the last time the Knicks and Nets made a trade. (The Knicks sent a 1984 second-round pick to the Nets for Len Elmore.) During my 20-year tenure in New Jersey, there were no trade conversations between the two teams.”
Marks was the assistant general manager of the Nets and knows better than anyone that a deal between the two is highly unlikely.
Would the Knicks Make This Deal?
Even if the Brooklyn Nets did business with the New York Knicks, it’s uncertain if the Knicks would consider making this deal. Five first-round picks is a huge price for any player, but spending that on a 21.9 point per game scorer whose defense hasn’t been what it was when he was with the Phoenix Suns wouldn’t make much sense.
Five first-round picks is what someone like Joel Embiid could cost, not Mikal Bridges.
Marks questions why the Knicks would change their process now when it comes to draft picks.
“Considering that New York was cautious when discussing trading draft capital for Mitchell, why would the Knicks all of sudden change course now? The difference is that Grimes would be the only rotation player the Knicks would be giving up in this deal, making the roster sustainable for the foreseeable future.”
Will Brooklyn Trade Bridges?
All signs have pointed towards the Nets holding onto Bridges. This would put an end to the possibility of the Knicks completing their Villanova team.
Marks notes that the Nets have a plan to build around Bridges and not move him. After averaging 26.1 points per game in the 27 games he played when traded to the Nets last season, Bridges hasn’t found that offensive consistency this season, averaging nearly five fewer points per game on worse efficiency.
“As Adrian Wojnarowski reported, the goal of the Nets’ front office is to build around Bridges, not trade away the team’s best player. Bridges is one of the NBA’s top two-way players and has two years left on his contract after the season.”
With the deadline coming up, crazier things have happened, but as Marks writes, this is very unlikely.