The Knicks have officially acquired star forward Mikal Bridges from the Nets, the teams announced today in a pair of press releases.
“We are thrilled to add a player of Mikal’s caliber to the Knicks family. His ability to score, shoot and defend at an elite level will add to a team that continues to grow,” Knicks president Leon Rose said in a statement. “Not only does he demonstrate excellence on the court but Mikal’s strength of character, diligence and dedication to the game of basketball are vital to the culture we continue to build in New York.”
The two clubs reached an initial agreement on June 25, then finalized an expanded version of the deal on Thursday to allow the Knicks to avoid becoming hard-capped at the first tax apron ($178.1MM). New York will instead be hard-capped at the second apron ($188.9MM).
The final terms are as follows:
- Knicks acquire Bridges, Keita Bates-Diop, the draft rights to Juan Pablo Vaulet, and either the Pistons’, Bucks’, or Magic’s 2026 second-round pick (whichever is least favorable).
- Nets acquire Bojan Bogdanovic, Shake Milton (sign-and-trade), Mamadi Diakite, the Knicks’ 2025 first-round pick, the Bucks’ 2025 first-round pick (top-four protected), the Knicks’ 2027 first-round pick, the Knicks’ 2029 first-round pick, the Knicks’ 2031 first-round pick, the right to swap a 2028 first-round pick for the Knicks’ 2028 first-round pick, and the Nets’ 2025 second-round pick.
The addition of Vaulet’s rights is new, and we now have the details on the draft pick headed to New York in the deal, but otherwise these are the terms that had been previously reported.
Milton’s new three-year contract is worth $9.16MM in total, with a $2.86MM guaranteed salary in year one, tweets Fred Katz of The Athletic. Brooklyn will be hard-capped at the first apron in 2024/25 as a result of acquiring him via sign-and-trade.
The Nets almost certainly used existing traded player exceptions to take on their incoming players, which means they’ll generate a sizable new TPE worth Bridges’ outgoing salary ($23.3MM). They’ll have one year to use it.
For more details on one of the summer’s biggest trades, be sure to check out our original stories on the agreement.
Quite a bit moved in that deal, but well worth it. The chemistry is already set, it’s just a matter of health going forward.
Biggest overpay of all-time lowkey
Yes, Shake is worth at least two firsts on his own…
It’s a lot of picks. But I doubt any turn into lottery picks. Maybe 2031.
Nets are not giving Knicks anything. Unless they get what they want. I get the Nets motivation. They will be going full rebuild. And next yr is the right draft to do it.
I always wanted a SG. There is where we can upgrade. And Donte is points of the bench. And a spot starter along with Hart. Says the Knicks are deep. Bridges will be a 2way star. He’s a tough scorer and good team player.
I can’t wait for the season. Knicks are a true contender. And have a deep team. Once we get our C position settled.
It’s been a long time coming. So I would tell all Knick fans. Just enjoy it ……. Year 5 of rebuild .
In Thibs we Trust …….
PG — Brunson
SG — Bridges
C — Mitch
PF — Randle
SF — OG
NYK paid a surreal trade price for a complementary player in Bridges. After paying a very high one for another one (OG) just 6 months earlier. But in the business of trading assets sometimes it’s good business to overpay. The elements that make it so are mostly here. Fit on multiple levels, low carrying costs, speed of completion, lack of alternatives, choice of currency, etc. The only question is whether the trade leaves the team with enough star power to truly compete for a championship. Because there won’t be substantial upgrades for a few years, at least via trade or FA signing. If yes, great deal. If not, bad deal. Personally, IDK. Can you win one with a team deep in very good players, without the traditional star power on the offensive end, but elite on the defensive end? The only precedent I can come up with during the last 40 years is DET in 2004. But it’s a different league than the past 40 years. The time may be right.
I disagree that the price of OG was exorbitant – the way RJ was going, he was a bad contract more than an asset (some reported he had negative value to rival execs) and IQ was theoretically more valuable before being given his new deal. Plus Precious played an important role and they still hold his bird rights. Gotta see what improvements RJ and IQ make going forward, but I think the package is relatively underwhelming for Toronto currently.
The Mikal trade is debatable and they paid the rival tax, but the alternatives were underwhelming, overpriced and/or unavailable and they clearly wanted to keep their core intact while adding pieces that fit seamlessly. Bridges is that player. I don’t know if they’re a “favorite” as things currently stand, but hard to believe that adding Mikal, Julius Randle and improved health doesn’t take them to the ECF last season.
Beyond that, they’re not hard capped at the first apron, have two tradeable firsts (protected but tradeable), are loaded with good contracts for positive players and no one is over 30. They haven’t completely compromised future flexibility, exhausted their coffers, or hitched their wagon to a bunch of aging overpaid stars. Maybe a Giannis/Booker trade isn’t possible now, but were they just going to wait until it was, if ever?
Sometimes you have to take a shot when you’re given it, even if it’s not the public’s idea of what that is. This team at full strength before Mikal was 12-2 in January with the highest margin of victory and the best offensive AND defensive rating in basketball. This is the best Knicks team in decades, with incredible chemistry that’s only improved, and it was time to double down, IMO.
I don’t know what exorbitant means to you, but it’s not a word I would ever use to describe a trade price, and didn’t use to describe this one. There’s a market, albeit an illiquid one, and we pushed it higher. We know this based on how quickly the deals were done ahead of the time that the market tends to heat up. Barrett was certainly not a bad contract in the market. Anunoby’s value at the time of the trade has to account not only for his injury history, but his contract under which he was going to be an UFA. Two controllable 23 year old starters (or equivalent) with a winning team is a very high price for any rental. We’re not capped at the first apron this year, but as with extensions on the horizon, there won’t be much flexibility to make significant moves. We may not need to, as this is a young core group relative to most (early prime across the board, and nobody over 30).
None of that means the deals were bad, and I certainly didn’t mean to suggest that. You bring up some of the reasons why it made sense to pay the price they did in each case. There are others as well, and the implementation was done well. But in the end, the only really good reason to make the market twice in 6 months is the belief that it puts the team in a position to be a legitimate contender for the championship.
I’m confused about the purpose of the Nets including the rights to a stash as part of the deal since that usually happens to complete a trade where you aren’t already giving up any assets. I’m guessing the teams have the right to view the trade as several one-for-one trades instead of aggregate.
I think the Knicks just love acquiring draft-rights players for some reason.
Now Bruce for Cam Johnson needs to happen
Diop I don’t know anything about him but not including Duece was huge. Bridges was definitely an overpay. However PHX was not trading KD or Booker. Dallas not trading Doncic. Milwaukee not trading Giannis. Name a player Knicks could have gotten instead? That of course only involves giving up what they gave up
Respect Bridges …. you will see
OG was a right time right place for him. Can’t hate on that. He stays healthy. The Knicks are going to compete for years. This group is good enough to win a chip. Probably best D team in NBA. We already proved we score. We were a top scoring team when we got OG. The floor just opened up. With Randle back. And Bridges at SG. This is a dangerous 2way team. All these players are Thibs kind of players. And our bench too. As deep as any. It’s going to be fun. Winning is fun.