A Logical Reaction To The Mikal Bridges Trade From A Knicks Fan
I've been a Knicks fan since July 14, 1996. That was the day my favorite player as a young lad, Larry Johnson got traded to the Knicks. I was never a fan of local sports teams. My dad roots for sports in an infuriating way. He moved to New Jersey from Hong Kong when he was 18 and just watches everything and roots for who is doing best. Knicks on top? Go New York Go New York Go! Nets are the cat's meow? Let's go Nets! It's the same with every sports. NFL, MLB, even the NHL.
In my elementary school wisdom, I knew I wanted no part of that. So I chose to be a hater. I rooted for out of market teams like the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the Charlotte Hornets. In the NBA, Larry Johnson was my guy. When he got traded that July night, I found out from the WB11 evening news. I cried a lot that night. I was at a crossroads at 10 years old. Abandon my hater status or no longer root for my guy LJ. I chose to be a Knicks fan
It was a fun couple years followed by nearly a decade of misery. When I moved to NYC in 2009, with the big free agent class of 2010 upcoming that featured LeBron James, Dwayne Wade, Chris Bosh, Amar'e Stoudemire, Carlos Boozer, Joe Johnson and others, I decided to get a season ticket with two other friends (shoutout to the Anthonys)
This was my first game in 2010 rocking a Nate Robinson jersey.
It was a fun couple of years. I went to something like 35 games that first year. I even traveled and went to some playoff games in Boston. It was a great time. I saw Carmelo Anthony's first game, I saw Steph Curry drop 54 at the Garden, I was at almost all the Linsanity games. But over the years, we started to sell more and more games and I gave up the seats after 10 years when COVID hit.
I have loved seeing the Knicks in the playoffs recently. Even when they battled the Trae Young led Hawks, it was just exciting to see the Garden come alive again. More recently beating the Cavs two years ago in the playoffs. Now seeing the Nova Knicks start to build and become a legit contender taking the Pacers to 7 games in the 2nd round.
And news comes last night that the Knicks complete the Nova squad by acquiring Mikal Bridges. And let me say, I was super stoked to here this news. He is the perfect fit with this team, assuming we re-sign OG Anunoby. He is a great defender who can really shoot from downtown and has developed a bit more offensively in the past year and a half with Brooklyn. The Knicks are now an even more fun team with more potential to make noise in the playoffs. Who doesn't love that?!
That being said, if I'm going to be objective, this was expensive. Very, very expensive.
This is the type of compensation we've seen recently for guys like Donovan Mitchell (proven All-NBA level player) and Rudy Gobert (now 4x Defensive Player of the Year). Mikal Bridges has never even been an All-Star. What he does have on his side is durability. He hasn't missed a game since high school and Mitchell has missed at least 13 games in each of the past 5 years and missed 17 regular season games and two critical playoff games this past season. They say the best ability is availability and this would be a tip of the cap to that.
Now unprotected 1st round picks are no joke. We've seen those turn into the #1 overall pick (Blake Griffin) and even Finals MVPs like Jaylen Brown. While this trade makes the Knicks awesome in the short term, who knows how good the Knicks will be in 5 and 7 years when those unprotected 2029 and 2031 picks are due. A 2028 pick swap? Not ideal, but the Nova Knicks core should still be together at that point, so I don't think we'll be a lottery team.
Looking further, the 2025 and 2027 picks should be in the late 20s. I'm not really sweating those. They don't have a ton of value based on this roster. The 2025 Milwaukee pick should be in the 20s. They are currently have the 2nd shortest odds to win the East. The 2025 2nd Round Pick I DGAF about as you can buy 2nd round picks in exchange for cash. So while this is technically FOUR 1st round picks and a pick swap, I'm really only concerned about two of those picks (2029 & 2031). And while it's expensive, I like the deal as the Knicks are being aggressive and swinging for the fences now. It's not a bet on talent as much as chemistry and chemistry wins championships.