Even though the Nets knew it Mikal Bridges Since they wanted to be a Knick, they had no reason to move him anytime soon.
Bridges has a contract until 2025-2026.
So why did Brooklyn trade him Tuesday night – to the Knicks of all places?
The Knicks made the Nets an offer they couldn’t refuse, sending a package containing five first-round picks and one first-round pick swap across the river to land Bridges.
Bridges has now been reunited with old Villanova teammates Jalen Brunson, Donte DiVincenzoAnd Jos Hart. The Nets now have an incredible amount of draft capital to start from scratch under a first-year head coach Jordy Fernandez.
This could be a rare NBA trade where both sides “win.”
The Knicks clearly believe that adding Bridges to this core will push them toward title contention.
But they still have some important decisions to make in the aftermath of the deal.
What about OG?
As noted last night, this trade does not prevent the Knicks from re-signing OG Anunoby. The club felt like it was in a good place going into the offseason and they will still do everything they can to re-sign Anunoby. Anunoby is expected to sign a deal that will kick off — minimal — at $35 million.
As currently constructed, the Bridges trade will leave the Knicks with a hard cap at the first platform. So they wouldn’t be able to spend more than the initial $178 million apron, as Yossi Gozlan notes.
But the Knicks and Nets could change the deal to give New York the opportunity to send out more salary. If the Knicks send more salary in trade than they take in, they can avoid facing a hard cap at the first platform. This would likely require a third team in the trade.
Doing so would allow New York to exceed that $178 million figure to build out the rest of the roster.
Maybe they don’t have to take it into account Isaiah Hartenstein‘s contract on their payroll. As SNY reported Tuesday, Hartenstein is expected to receive significant interest from several suitors in free agency. The Knicks are limited in what they can offer Hartenstein.
They can give him a contract worth as much as $72 million over four years.
Teams with max cap space can easily exceed that starting salary (approximately $16 million).
As things stand, Hartenstein is unlikely to return to New York, SNY sources said.
That leaves a big void at center and that’s something the Knicks will have to address this season. They have three remaining first-round picks to use in potential trades.
The Knicks could also shed salary to avoid the first-apron hard cap by making a trade. Mitchell RobinsonHis name has come up in trade talks. But if they were to deal Robinson, the Knicks would have to replace two big players in their rotation in one offseason (Robinson and Hartenstein).
If New York pulls off the Bridges trade in July, it could involve smaller paid players such as Jericho Sims and one of the players with a minimum contract to avoid being capped at the first platform.
MANHATTAN BRIDGE
Both the Knicks and Nets have known for a while that Bridges ultimately wanted to be a Knick. Did he demand a profession in the traditional sense of the word? No. But the Nets knew where Bridges stood before Tuesday’s trade. It was communicated to them as trade negotiations progressed.
And they were aware that Bridges could essentially control where he was traded by telling teams he planned to sign with the Knicks as a free agent. Bridges’ team planned to do just that, SNY reported late Tuesday.
Still, the Nets were under no obligation to move Bridges anytime soon. They could have let the situation play out this season and next season and see if Bridges’ thinking changed.
But the Knicks’ offer was probably by far the best they got for Bridges. So Nets top basketball manager Sean Marks put aside the optics of helping the Knicks and made the best trade for his team.
The Knicks got the player they had long wanted, a player who wanted to be in New York to reunite with his teammates.
Did the Knicks give up too much draft capital for Bridges? We won’t know the answer to that for a few years. If the trade goes well, the Knicks’ picks will be near the end of the first round for the foreseeable future. And the Knicks added one of the best young fullbacks in the NBA without worrying about his fit in the locker room.
“You can’t buy chemistry,” one director said late Tuesday evening. Bridges will of course fit seamlessly into the chemistry/culture that is already established in New York.
AVOIDING THE APRON
Bridges’ contract ($48 million over the next two seasons) has great value as the cap continues to rise. If Brunson decides to sacrifice significant money by signing his extension this offseason, it will give the Knicks plenty of wiggle room to stay under the dreaded second apron of team salary.
Starting in 2024-2025, teams above the second platform will lose access to mid-level exceptions. They are also prohibited from combining the salaries of multiple players in a transaction.
Second-apron teams also can’t send cash to get deals across the finish line; they cannot trade their first-round pick seven years in the future.
Clearly the Knicks want to avoid this. Bridges’ contract should help them achieve that over the next two seasons. If Brunson signs his extension and gives up the money he could make in free agency, that would put New York in an even better position to avoid that second apron.
