The Empire State Building lit up blue and orange Tuesday night, officially in honor of a Mets victory. But the lights flashed the same colors for the Knicks, just minutes after news broke that New York was sending five first-round picks across the East River so Brooklyn could finally say goodbye to defensive stalwart Mikal Bridges.
Rival teams have sensed Brooklyn’s growing willingness to move on from Bridges in recent days, league sources told Yahoo Sports. Utah and Houston were two of the other teams that league officials said were actively involved in pursuing Bridges. The Nets had turned down offers for Bridges in previous trade cycles that included as many as four first-round picks, sources said. And as of Monday, none of Brooklyn’s conversations with those three teams or others were considered serious, sources said. That was until the Knicks came back with four unprotected first-round picks — starting in 2025 — plus a protected first-round pick from the Bucks, and then the rights for Brooklyn to trade first-round picks with New York in 2028, league sources confirmed to Yahoo Sports.
It all adds up to a total of six years of draft capital, one of the biggest – if not the biggest – returns for a player who is never named an All-Star in NBA history. Bridges is arguably more valuable to the Knicks than any other team, a chance to land a fourth Wildcat of Villanova’s three-year streak behind Jalen Brunson, who won national titles in 2016 and 2018. Bridges is also seen as one of the best options New York could have. have found a counterbalance to Boston’s lineup of two-way wings that just claimed this year’s championship. Bridges always had his eye on New York, sources said, especially after the Knicks added Donte DiVincenzo last summer following the February 2023 trade deadline deal that brought Josh Hart through the door. These Wildcat connections run deep, and Kyle Lowry has even been mentioned by NBA figures as a target for New York in free agency, sources said.
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