The night before the 2024 NBA Draft, it was announced by NBA Insider Adrian Wojnarowski that the Brooklyn Nets were sending their franchise player, Mikal Bridges, to the in-city rival New York Knicks in exchange for an assortment of players and a haul of 1st round picks. The NBA world was shocked by this trade, as it was reported that the Nets had no intentions of trading Mikal Bridges with the intention of building around him. Not only were fans surprised that Bridges was traded, but the fact that the Knicks were the trade partner was also unexpected, as the Nets and Knicks had not made a trade since 1983.
It was reported by Ian Begley of SNY soon after that Bridges had privately requested a trade to the Knicks, even threatening to use his 2026 free agency as leverage to deter other teams from trading for him. Given this information, this begs the question of whether or not Bridges quit on the Nets months ago, explaining his massive drop in production.
After getting traded to the Nets post-deadline in 2023 and pre-All-Star break of 2024, Bridges played 81 games, and in those games, he averaged an impressive 23.2 points, 4.7 rebounds, 3.3 assists on 46% FG - 37% 3PT - 86% FT.
Post 2024 All-Star break, Bridges collapsed. In his final 28 games, he averaged a putrid 15.6 points, 3.9 rebounds, and 3.6 assists on 40% FG - 37% 3PT - 76% FT.
Bridges’ decline as a player happened after the All-Star break on February 22nd. During that time, Mikal Bridges did an interview on the Roommates Podcast on February 15th, the podcast hosted by Jalen Brunson and Josh Hart. Did Mikal Bridges intentionally play bad the last few months of the season to send a message to the Nets to trade him?
Bridges showed serious interest in rejoining his Villanova teammates, Jalen Brunson & Josh Hart. On the podcast episode, his former teammates would tease him for being a part of the Nets while also explaining that New York would always be a Knicks town, something that Bridges agreed with, which bothered many fans. Not only that, but during the games where the Nets and Knicks would play, Bridges would often rush over to his former teammates, often laughing and showing enjoyment despite getting humiliated by them on the court.
One of the first red flags was on January 24th, when it was shown that Mikal Bridges and Jalen Brunson were sitting courtside at MSG during a Villanova game. While many pro-Bridges Nets fans argued vehemently in defense of Bridges that this meant nothing and that he’s allowed to be friends with a former college teammate, this event took place on January 23rd, one day after the Nets lost to the Knicks at home, when Barclays was taken over by Knicks fans.
Another red flag was the Chipotle commercial Mikal Bridges did with Josh Hart. In the commercial, it had Mikal Bridges take a lie detector test. When asked by Hart if he wanted to be teammates again, the test determined he was telling the truth, and indeed he was. As months later, Bridges was reunited with his Villanova teammates.
While it is hard to believe a player with the reputation of Mikal Bridges would intentionally play bad for the sake of playing with his college teammates, when you present all the information above, as well as the coincidental timing of Bridges' decline in play after all of the events above and his trade request, it is not hard to believe that Bridges tanked games to get to the Knicks.
Commenti