So let’s start off by stating the rational. It is too soon to judge the Mikal Bridges trade. It is too soon to judge the New York Knicks as the championship contenders they aspire to be to justify the trade.
I’ll repeat the first part again for the people in the back. IT IS TOO SOON TO JUDGE MIKAL BRIDGES!!!!
And yet there is an uneasiness within the Knicks fandom. Despite being historically slow starting under Tom Thibodeau and still trying to find a two way identity as a team that formed about two weeks before the start of the season that anxiety is understandable.
The Knicks have never been all in before this year. And despite the fact that Karl-Anthony Towns is the Knicks’ highest paid player and co-offensive hub on the 2nd best offense in basketball, the human embodiment of that “all-inness” is Mikal Bridges.
The Knicks gave the Nets four unprotected first round picks, a 2028 pick swap and a potential Milwaukee Bucks pick that is looking more and more drool worthy with every clanged Brook Lopez three.
It was a lot at the time for a player who had never made an All-Star team and did not seem particularly likely to make one in his career.
But you could see the outline of what the team was thinking. A contract small enough that they wouldn’t have to break up their current core, a personality and of course Villanova stamped history that meant an inevitable seamless fit with his college teammates. A history as a championship caliber role player on the Suns with a ceiling of holding down the fort for spurts as a primary that he flashed on the Nets.
The reality has looked a little different. Bridges spooked Knicks fans with a painful looking revamped jumping (little closer to Grandpa pulled a muscle showing you how he shot in the 50’s vs. KD Lite) that led to a 2/19 stretch from three this preseason. It has looked better in fits and spurts during the regular season as he lit it up inside the arc shooting 58% from mid-range (89th percentile for wings) and in nailing 52% of his corner threes (remarkably the best mark in the NBA for wings). The shots falls off from distance however as he is shooting just 16% on his non-corner threes and 32% overall from three.
His usage is the lowest it’s been since the start of his on the ball breakout in 2022-23. Perhaps most concerningly he’s taken just eight free throws in nine games and a career low 13% of his shots are coming at the rim. He’s had good games and good moments, but you don’t FEEL him as someone who’s changing games on the offensive end the way the Knicks need to win a championship.
Many would consider it foolish to be doing a deep dive on his offense when the Knicks’ defense has been by far their bigger issue. Mikal’s been middling on that end of the floor. At times flashing the smarts, screen navigation and all enveloping length that made him one of the world’s most highly regarded defenders during his time on the Suns and at times he’s simply been background noise at the point of attack while star guards cut a swath through the Knicks meager resistance.
The Knicks issues go beyond Bridges with a lack of depth chief amongst them, but the assets given up for Bridges severely limits their ability to fix them. So Bridges must be more, do more, to resolve them. The Knicks need the best of Suns’ Bridges and the best of Nets’ Bridges to make this team work.
There is still plenty of time for that to happen, but unlike the past the Knicks don’t have many alternatives if it doesn’t.
