The New York Knicks and Brooklyn Nets complete a rare intercity trade (first trade between the teams since 1983), with the Nets sending star Mikal Bridges to the New York Knicks in a stunner.
The trade had Mikal Bridges and a 2026 second round pick going to the Knicks, while Bojan Bogdanovic, four unprotected first round picks (in 2025, 2027, 2029, and 2031), a 2025 protected first round pick (from the Milwaukee Bucks), a 2028 unprotected pick swap and a 2025 second round pick all go to the Nets.
The Nets followed up this move with a subsequent trade with the Houston Rockets to recoup some more draft capital that was lost in the fateful James Harden trade, including the number three pick in this week’s draft. In that move, the Nets received the return of the 2025 first round swap and a 2026 first round pick back. The Rockets receive a 2025 first round pick swap (lesser of Rockets or Thunder for Suns), a 2027 first round pick (Suns pick), 2029 first round pick (more favorable of Dallas or Phoenix) and 2029 first round swap (less favorable of Dallas or Phoenix).
Both teams checked boxes in this deal, with the big winner of the trade likely to be Bridges. The Nova Knicks are reunited, Bridges is on a winner, the Knicks have themselves a stacked roster with a few more players being worked on to resign, and the Nets are in full-on rebuild mode.
Below is a rundown of the key considerations, with trade grades for the Knicks and Nets.
The Nova Knicks
Somewhere, former Villanova Wildcats coach Jay Wright had a tear in his eye when he heard about this trade. The most NBA-accomplished players from his 2016 championship team, with three of those members also on the 2018 championship team, are reunited with the Knicks. Jalen Brunson, Josh Hart, Donte Divincenzo, and now Bridges, make up a formidable rotation pieces for coach Tom Thibodeau and the Knicks.
In the 2016 NCAA championship game, Hart and Brunson were starters and Bridges came off the bench. Divincenzo did not play in that game due to a foot injury earlier in the year. Fast forward a bit to 2018 and Brunson and Bridges both started while Divincenzo came off the bench. Hart had graduated at that point. However, the bond and precedent had been set. The Nova Knicks connection had been set in motion.
Bridges Joins a Winner
Bridges had toiled through two years in Brooklyn as the main, and in some games, only scoring option for the Nets. Now, Brooklyn Bridges has moved to Manhattan. The key question after the short stint with the Nets is, was Bridges surrounded by so much mediocrity that there was no way he could succeed, or does he lack the ability and/or makeup to be the number one option on a contender?
Long known as an Iron Man, Bridges answers the call whenever it comes. He came to the Nets with the reputation of also being very low-drama and team-first. While that is still intact as he moves from Barclay Center to Madison Square Garden, there were a few instances that put a bit of chip in the armor. One example were rumblings that came out about Bridges displeasure around former coach Jacque Vaughn’s game planning around Ben Simmons.
Additionally, after a 50-point loss to the eventual champion Boston Celtics, Bridges said “It’s not just let it go. A lot of s—t is not right. And you got to fix it.” While it’s hard to argue with either of the points, for him to make those statements was a shift in his behavior with the media and toward his team.
Coming to the Nets from the Phoenix Suns as one of the key pieces of the Kevin Durant deal, Bridges played 83 games (yes, a normal season is 82, but being traded mid-season gives one the ability to play in 83) before the Nets were swept by the Philadelphia 76ers in the playoffs. Bridges averaged 17.2 points per game with the Suns that season, which jumped to 26.1 with the Nets. He then participated in the FIBA World Cup over the summer, representing Team USA. Hart and Brunson were also on that team, as was Nets teammate Cam Johnson.
So, coming into 2024, it’s not hard to imagine that Bridges was a bit gassed after an 83-game regular season, a tough playoff series against Philadelphia, and participating in the World Cup. Johnson took a step back in his performance for the Nets in the 2023-24 season, Simmons was up and (mostly) down as he tried to come back from injury, and there was a midseason coaching change from Vaughn to interim Kevin Ollie. These factors helped contribute to Bridges still playing about 35 minutes per game but taking a step back in scoring to 19.6 points per game, and his field goal percentage of 43.6% was the lowest of his career since his rookie season of 2018-19.
With the new start in joining the Knicks, Bridges goes from being the guy to being a guy. Thibodeau will work the rotation as needed, and the Iron Man Mikal Bridges should be able to adjust to the heavier minutes Thibodeau is known to play his key players.
Knicks Add Talent; Trade Grade B+
Knicks President Leon Rose has done a phenomenal job getting the Knicks to a place where they can make a deal like this. As discussed on the Sport Truth podcast back in early June, New York had more picks than they knew what to do with (nine in the next two drafts). After this deal, they still have five first round selections in the next three drafts. However, this was still a big haul to give up for one player that has not yet been named an All Star.
Rose and the front office have made the decision to build around wings, similar to the Boston model. They will have solid defenders (Hart, Bridges, Anunoby) to shut down opposing scorers. New York will also have a mix of wings that can score, taking some of the pressure of scoring off Brunson.
There are always other dominos that fall with deals like this. Rose will have to be creative to keep the core together.
- The Knicks have been pushing hard to resign OG Anunoby, which makes sense given their regular season record with him in the lineup was 20-3 last season. He officially declined his player option this week (expected move) to enter free agency. The Knicks are expected to resign him, especially after trading RJ Barrett and Immanuel Quickley for him this season, but the bidding may go up to around $40 million annually to resign Anunoby. The Knicks are not restricted in what they can offer, other than luxury tax considerations.
- Another current free agent for the Knicks is Isaiah Hartenstein. He really came into his own this past season, with career highs in minutes per game (25.3) and rebounds per game (8.3), appearing in 75 games. He took a very prominent role with the injuries of Mitchell Robinson, and his passing ability is a weapon. The Knicks are capped at what they can offer Hartenstein, at four years, $72.5 million. Another team may offer him more. Failing to sign Hartenstein puts more pressure on Robinson, and his health, as well as finding a suitable backup (Jericho Sims being the other in-house option).
How Thibodeau builds the rotation will be a critical factor to the team’s success next season. A way too early projected starting lineup of Brunson, Bridges, Anunoby, Julius Randle, and Hartenstein would mean a second unit of Miles (Deuce) McBride, DiVincenzo, Hart, Robinson and TBD (Alec Burks again?). Dividing up those minutes will be a good problem to have.
Beyond resigning Anunoby and Hartenstein, Rose will also have money decisions with cap impacts moving forward. Bridges makes $23.3M in 2024-25 and $24.9M in 2025-26, which is underpaid given what he produces. Brunson is signed for $25.0 million in both of the next two years. Rose can look to sign both to extensions, lessening the hit in future years.
Nets Add (A Lot of) Picks; Trade Grade: C (B- including the Rockets Deal)
How things have changed over a few years. Gone is the core of Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving, and Harden. Entering 2024-25 with a core of Ben Simmons, Cam Thomas, and Cam Johnson has a very different ring to it. The tank is on!
Throughout the year, it became more and more clear that Bridges was no longer happy in Brooklyn. He was suffering from serious FOMO (Fear of Missing Out) watching his Nova teammates make a deep playoff run right across town. With an opportunity to declare his leadership and love of Brooklyn on Brunson’s and Hart’s podcast, Bridges sidestepped with a non-answer.
The Harden deal was a big loss for the Nets. Not only did they give up a ton of draft capital, including the third overall pick in the 2024 draft, they then turned around and dealt him to Philadelphia in a deal focused on Simmons coming to the Nets. Simmons played in no games in 2021-22, 42 games for Brooklyn in 2022-23 and only 15 in 2023-24. Over those three years he made over $106 million, not a good Return on Investment.
After going through Vaughn and Ollie as coaches this year, the Nets were able to bring on one of the most well-respected assistants in the league in Sacramento’s Jordi Fernandez. The league’s first coach from Spain, and Team Canada’s Head Coach, came in expecting a quick turnaround. One would hope the likelihood of trading the Nets player was discussed before he took on the role.
With Simmons coming off the books after the 2024-25 season, the potential is there for the Nets to make a big signing. With the subsequent Houston deal, they now have better picks for a potential sign and trade as well. With a first time coach and young roster, this seems like a long shot.
A more likely outcome is to build slowly through the draft, harkening back to the early days of the Sean Marks regime, building with youth and a good developmental coach in Kenny Atkinson (recently hired by the Cleveland Cavs). With the Nets getting their own picks back this becomes more plausible. Given their recent successes of drafting players like current unrestricted free agent Nic Clayton (#31 overall in 2019), Cam Thomas (#27 overall in 2021), and Day’Ron Sharpe (#29 in 2021), the team has done well in finding value in the draft.
Unfortunately, the Nets do not have any picks (yet) in the 2024 Draft. They will likely continue to push to trade into the draft, with future picks and veterans like Dorian Finney-Smith the assets that can be moved.
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