The Empire State Building lit up in blue and orange on Tuesday night, officially celebrating the Mets' victory. But the lights also lit up for the Knicks just minutes later, when news broke that New York had sent five first-round picks across the East River to part ways with Brooklyn for defensive stalwart Mikal Bridges.
Rival teams had been sensing Brooklyn's growing desire to give up Bridges in recent days, league sources told Yahoo Sports. Utah and Houston were two other teams that league personnel mentioned as being actively involved in acquiring Bridges. The Nets had rejected offers for Bridges in previous transaction cycles, including four first-round picks, sources said. And as of Monday, none of Brooklyn's talks with those three teams or others were considered serious, sources said. That was until the Knicks came back with four unprotected first-rounders — starting in 2025 — plus a protected first-round pick from the Bucks
All of this equates to a total of six years of draft capital, which is one of the biggest — if not the biggest — returns for a player who was never named an All-Star in NBA history. Bridges is arguably more valuable to the Knicks than any other team for the chance to bring in the fourth Wildcat from Villanova’s three-year run behind Jalen Brunson, who won national titles in 2016 and 2018. Bridges also marks as one of the best options New York could have found to counter Boston’s lineup of two-way wings that claimed this year’s championship. Bridges always had his eye on New York, sources said, especially when the Knicks added Donte DiVincenzo last summer after the February 2023 trade deadline deal that brought Josh Hart through the door.
However, sources said Bridges did not request a trade this week. If anything, it's a sign that Brooklyn surveyed the market for potential additions this summer and was the star running mate Nets personnel have long hoped Bridges would help lure to Brooklyn. Damian Lillard certainly had his eye on the Nets last summer, but he ended up in Milwaukee. The entire league is rooting for Donovan Mitchell to sign an extension with Cleveland. And hiring Jordi Fernandez — the highly respected Canadian national team head coach who last served as Mike Brown's assistant — on the Nets' sideline gives Brooklyn a first-year bench leader who has the experience and youth to compete for the postseason and the openness to building a program, compared to a merely competition-focused head coach like Mike Budenholzer.
The Nets, of course, were always aware of Bridges’ interest in joining New York. The Knicks made their point on Tuesday by stepping up with a significant offer that Brooklyn simply couldn’t refuse, sources said, marking the first time these two neighboring franchises have struck a deal since 1983. That synergy alone was a shock to many seasoned league observers. When Kevin Durant first requested a trade from the Nets during the summer of 2022, many Brooklyn personnel vowed the club would never send the All-Star to Madison Square Garden. The Knicks pledging five of their eight available first-round picks, which New York once determined was too much for Mitchell, was apparently enough for the Nets to make Bridges work.
Of course, things are very different above Penn Station since New York's talks with Utah broke down. Brunson has since emerged as a true MVP candidate, one of the most admired playoff scorers in the league. New York was inches away from the Eastern Conference Finals, and a healthy Knicks team had many around the league convinced it was the biggest threat to challenge Boston in the East. The addition of Bridges likely cements that notion, even if Philadelphia manages to steal Paul George from the Los Angeles Clippers. All signs point to New York re-signing OG Anunoby, and you've got a pretty good foil for Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown on the defensive side of Boston's drives and kicks.
All of this is a huge argument for Brunson to sign the four-year, $156 million extension he's eligible to sign on July 12. For all that money, it would still be a huge underpayment for an All-Star coming off a fifth-place MVP finish. In what could be a watershed moment in the NBA marketplace, Brunson proactively choosing to take $100 million less than what's going to be available to him next summer, which would have a seismic effect from players of his caliber who have commanded absolute top dollar for much of the past decade. It's been a course correction since LeBron James turned his back on the pay cut days in Miami. However, building a long-lasting winner for New York will be challenging for more than finances
The Nets are likely to sign Nic Claxton again, even if it's clearly billed as a turn toward a rebuild. Brooklyn acquired Bojan Bogdanovic as a salary match for Bridges, and the veteran could have some immediate re-trade value for the Nets. Bogdanovic is expected to return from season-ending foot and wrist surgery by October, sources said. If you needed further proof of Brooklyn's pivot, the Nets made a subsequent deal with Houston after acquiring the Bridges blockbuster. In short, Brooklyn had discussed various frameworks with the Rockets since the trade deadline about sending the Nets' picks back to Barclays Center.
The Nets got back the pick swap they sent to Houston as part of the James Harden trade in January 2021, got their 2026 first-round pick back, and then Houston got back Phoenix's 2027 first-round pick from the Durant-to-Suns trade at last year's deadline, plus the other Suns swap. Full terms, per the source:
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Houston gave up the right to exchange HOU/OKC's first-round pick in 2025 for BKN's first-round pick
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Houston receives authority to switch HOU/OKC to PHX First by 2025
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Brooklyn first receives 2026 BKN
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Houston first acquires 2027 PHX
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Houston acquires the 2029 right to the more favorable of the first DAL and first PHX, and Houston acquires the 2029 right to first swap HOU for the less favorable of the first DAL and first PHX (stated another way, Houston acquires/retains the two most favorable rights among the first DAL, HOU, and PHX, and Brooklyn acquires/retains the least favorable of the first DAL, HOU, and PHX)
For several weeks, the NBA has been labeling George's decision to stay in Los Angeles and test the open market — or perhaps his decision to opt into the final year and nearly $50 million option on his contract and request a trade — as the main domino of this offseason. His outcome impacts the potential outcomes and cap space of multiple teams, and therefore multiple players who could benefit or lose from their own options. The pull for New York directly affects Hartenstein, but could its biggest impact be the forward motivation of teams willing to trade for the final piece that could lift them out of trouble?