The Brooklyn Nets have agreed on a trade to send forward Mikal Bridges to the New York Knicks for a plethora of picks and veteran forward Bojan Bogdanovic.
Bridges will head to Madison Square Garden, where he will team up with Jalen Brunson, Josh Hart, and Donte DiVincenzo, his former teammates at Villanova College.
The 27-year-old will reportedly join the Knicks in a big trade that will include Bogdanovic along with four unprotected first-round picks and one protected pick.
The Knicks pay a steep price to land one of the league’s most coveted trade assets and the Nets get a massive haul to replenish assets and embark on a rebuild with mass cap space and future draft picks.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) June 26, 2024
The trade, which signals the first time the New York rivals have dealt with each other since the 1983 season, will see him reunite with his old teammates, whom he won the 2016 NCAA title with during their time with the Villanova Wildcats.
Bridges was drafted by the Phoenix Suns in 2018 with the 10th overall draft pick. He subsequently departed the franchise after five years in February 2023, in a trade that saw two-time NBA champion Kevin Durant move to the Suns.
The Knicks are sending four unprotected picks (2025, 2027, 2029, 2031) a 2025 protected Milwaukee first, a 2028 unprotected pick swap and a 2025 second-round pick for Mikal Bridges and a 2026 second-round pick, sources tell ESPN. https://t.co/E4pTq3wCMP
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) June 26, 2024
He averaged 26.1 points for the rest of that season, helping Brooklyn reach the playoffs. However, in the just-concluded 2023–24 regular season, he averaged 19.6 points per game, but the Nets finished 32–50 and missed the postseason.
New York, on the other hand, has gotten to the semifinals of the Eastern Conference playoffs in the past two seasons, just falling short to the Indiana Pacers this season after an injury-ravaged postseason, and the acquisition of Bridges could help them surpass the hurdle with his ability on both ends of the court.
Bridges finished in the running for Defensive Player of the Year in 2022, and he currently holds the title of “the NBA’s most durable player,” having never missed a game in the league. He has played in all 474 games in his career and didn’t miss a game in college, while also leading the league in minutes played in both 2021-22 and 2022-23.
FULL TRADE DETAILS
Knicks receive:
- Mikal Bridges
- 2026 2nd-round pick
Nets receive:
- Bojan Bogdanovic
- unprotected 1st-round pick in 2025
- unprotected 1st-round pick in 2027
- unprotected 1st-round pick in 2029
- unprotected 1st-round pick in 2031
- unprotected pick swap in 2028
- top-four protected 2025 1st-round pick via Bucks
- 2nd round pick in 2025
