Apparently, Donte DiVincenzo, Josh Hart, and Jalen Brunson weren't enough. The Knicks decided to add one more player to their Villanova crew, pulling off a deal on Tuesday night to reunite Mikal Bridges with his college teammates.
The trade wasn't a total surprise — I proposed an almost identical one six weeks ago. Bridges made more sense on the Knicks than the Nets, and the stars aligned to make it happen.
It cost the Knicks a high price, though. Was it worth it?
MORE: 'Nova Knicks,' more react to Mikal Bridges trade
Mikal Bridges trade details
Knicks receive:
- Mikal Bridges
- 2026 second-round pick
Nets receive:
- Bojan Bogdanovic
- Four unprotected first-round picks in 2025, 2027, 2029, and 2031
- Bucks top-four protected first-round pick
- 2025 second-round pick
- 2028 unprotected pick swap
MORE: Mikal Bridges full trade details | Knicks cap space
Mikal Bridges trade grades: Knicks
Five first-round picks and an unprotected pick swap is a mammoth price to pay for Bridges. It's not totally an apples-to-apples comparison, but Alex Caruso was traded just a few days earlier in exchange for Josh Giddey and zero picks.
The Knicks had up to eight first-round picks available to move after Wednesday's draft, though. In moving five first-rounders, they are still leaving themselves some flexibility to add talent down the line.
Bridges is worth that price. He's shown more self-creation in Brooklyn than he did earlier in his career in Phoenix, averaging 21.2 points per game for the Nets.
While that scoring is great, he was overburdened in that role. He still slots in as a clear No. 2 or 3 guy on a championship team, and he has a chance to do that for the Knicks, helping to relieve some of the massive pressure that Jalen Brunson faced last year as one of the only advantage creators on the team.
Bridges is more than capable of playing off the ball, as he showed in his time in Phoenix. He's a career 37.5 percent 3-point shooter who will stretch the floor and make it much harder to load up on Brunson's drives in the playoffs.
Bridges is also an excellent defender who finished runner-up in Defensive Player of the Year voting in 2021-22. He hasn't quite gotten back to that extremely high level since. With a reduction in his offensive responsibilities and Tom Thibodeau's constant screaming, he should be able to return to form.
There is a bit of a question as to what will happen with free agent O.G. Anunoby now that Bridges is on the team. The two have similar skillsets. Anunoby showed last year, though, how valuable that type of player is for the Knicks. They went 26-6 with him in the lineup.
Bridges offers some insurance in case Anunoby gets hurt again, and the two can very easily play on the floor together. The Knicks were successful last year in large part because of how switchable their defenders were. Having both Anunoby and Bridges on the floor together will only enhance that strength.
This is undoubtedly a steep price, but Bridges is worth it. The Knicks should be considered ahead of the Bucks and Sixers as the top challenger to the Celtics in the East.
Grade: B
Mikal Bridges trade grades: Nets
The Nets had expressed reticence to trade Bridges in the past. That held true until they got an offer that they couldn't turn down.
Bridges was their best player, but they saw over the previous two seasons that their ceiling was extremely capped with him as their No. 1 guy. In trading him for picks, they've given themselves a chance to build a true championship contender down the line.
This trade wasn't just about a title-or-bust mentality, though. The Nets were a tough watch last season, winning only 32 games. They didn't have many avenues toward getting better — they owned zero picks in the 2024 draft, and the Rockets had control of their picks through 2027 from the James Harden trade.
Getting five first-round picks opens up a ton more flexibility for either drafting the next superstar or moving those picks in a trade down the line. I had suggested that it would take three picks to get a deal done. The Nets got five, showing that they are more shrewd negotiators than me.
This trade was even better for the Nets after they made an additional move with Houston that gave them back control of their 2025 and 2026 first-round picks. Brooklyn is probably going to be near the bottom of the standings in the immediate future. Regaining their own picks was vital for this trade to make sense for them.
Bogdanovic was included in this deal mostly for the purposes of matching salary. He's on an expiring deal, so he may not be in the team's long-term plans, but he was great for the Pistons, averaging 21.1 points per game over the previous two seasons.
He couldn't get into a rhythm with the Knicks, making him expendable. If he returns to that Detroit form, then Brooklyn could flip him for even more draft equity mid-season. In the meantime, Bogdanovic gets to return to the team that he had great memories with.
Before the Nets imploded with the Harden, Kyrie Irving, and Kevin Durant trio, they had a fun, organic team built through the draft and shrewd signings on the margins. GM Sean Marks has shown that he is capable of building that type of group from the ground up. He has another chance to do it now thanks to a godfather offer from Brooklyn's crosstown rivals. This was a win-win for both teams.
Grade: A