'Nova Knicks grow by 1 with stunning trade for Mikal Bridges. Here's how good New York looks on paper.
NEW YORK -- Why settle for three former Villanova stars when you can have four? That was the mindset the New York Knicks were operating under when they shocked the NBA on Tuesday night by agreeing to a trade with the rival Brooklyn Nets to bring Mikal Bridges to Madison Square Garden.
Assuming the rest of the Knicks' offseason goes according to plan, Bridges may just be the missing piece they need to finally win their first NBA championship since 1973.
The Knicks paid a steep price for the a 6-foot-6 small forward who scores points in bunches, reportedly sending the Nets veteran forward Bojan Bogdanovic, four unprotected first-round picks, a protected first-round pick via the Milwaukee Bucks, an unprotected pick swap and a second-rounder, ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski reported.
Blockbuster brings in another championship-winning Villanova star
The first trade between the New York rivals since 1983 will put Bridges in the lineup alongside superstar Jalen Brunson, versatile Josh Hart and dead-eye shooter Donte DiVincenzo, players who helped Villanova win two NCAA championships and were the core of a Knicks lineup that reached the Eastern Conference semifinals last season.
Bridges was a contributing freshman on the Wildcats' 2015-16 national title team and the team's second-leading scorer behind Brunson during their run to glory in 2017-18.
"This is crazy lol," Bridges wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter, on Tuesday after the news broke.
Hart posted a picture of what appeared to be the four players smiling during a group video call.
Brunson took to X and wrote "Omg," pretty much summing up what a lot of Knicks fans were feeling after hearing about the trade agreement.
The Nets acquired Bridges from Phoenix in the deal for Kevin Durant in February 2023 and he went on to average 26.1 points the rest of that season in helping Brooklyn reach the playoffs. The swingman scored 19.6 per game in 2023-24 but the Nets slipped to 32-50 and missed the postseason.
And while his team was struggling, he couldn't help but notice how much fun his friends were having just a few miles away. The Knicks signed Brunson in the summer of 2022, traded for Hart in the 2022-23 season and then signed DiVincenzo last summer, and reached the second round in both seasons.
Why the Knicks made this move
The Knicks had picks to move and have been looking to strengthen a team that has been on the rise. They were a game away from their first appearance in the Eastern Conference finals since 2000 last season despite losing a number of key players to injuries before and during the postseason.
Their new addition, on the other hand, doesn't get hurt.
Bridges was the runner-up for Defensive Player of the Year in 2022 and is currently the NBA's most durable player, which should quickly make him a favorite of Knicks coach Tom Thibodeau. He has played in all 474 games in his career -- and never missed a game in college, either -- and led the league in minutes played in both 2021-22 and 2022-23.
What remains to be seen is if the Knicks can re-sign unrestricted free agent forward OG Anunoby and center Isaiah Hartenstein to play with the former Villanova stars and power forward Julius Randle, who should be good to go after missing 36 regular season games and the entire postseason due to a shoulder injury.
