Sources: Mikal Bridges at center of rare Knicks, Nets trade
On the eve of the NBA draft, the Knicks and Nets made their first trade with each other since 1983 and did so in dramatic fashion, as New York agreed in principle to acquire Mikal Bridges from Brooklyn for Bojan Bogdanovic, five first-round draft picks, a first-round pick swap and a second-round selection, sources told ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski on Tuesday.
Brooklyn will receive unprotected New York picks in 2025, 2027, 2029 and 2031, along with an unprotected pick swap with New York in 2028. Brooklyn also will receive a top-four protected 2025 first-round pick via the Milwaukee Bucks, as well as a 2025 second-rounder.
The Knicks will acquire a 2026 second-round pick from the Nets to complete the deal.
Bridges, 27, has never missed a game in his NBA career, and he averaged 19.6 points this past season for Brooklyn. He is seen as one of the elite 3-and-D players in the league.
The deal is the fifth between the two New York franchises since the Nets entered the NBA in 1976 -- and the first since the Nets traded Len Elmore to the Knicks for a 1984 second-round pick (used on Tom Sluby) on June 22, 1983.
Almost 41 years to the day later, the teams struck a true blockbuster trade with massive reverberations for both franchises moving forward.
With the Knicks, Bridges reunites with former Villanova teammates Jalen Brunson, Josh Hart and Donte DiVincenzo, wholed the Wildcats to the 2016 national championship. Brunson, Bridges and DiVincenzo went on to win a second title together two years later.
Now, they'll look to help end a 52-year championship drought next spring for the Knicks, who won a playoff series in back-to-back seasons for the first time in 24 years after beating the Philadelphia 76ers4-2 in the first round this past spring before losing to the Indiana Pacers in seven games in the Eastern Conference semifinals.
Sources told Wojnarowski that New York remains focused on attempting to re-sign forward OG Anunoby, whom they acquired midseason from the Toronto Raptorsand who is set to become an unrestricted free agent this summer. The Knicks also hope to re-sign center Isaiah Hartensteinbutare limited in what they can pay him due to only holding his early Bird rights -- which means, at most, he can sign a four-year, $72.5 million deal with the team.
By landing Bridges and Anunoby in consecutive deals, New York is arming itself with as much length, versatility and shooting on the perimeter as possible in order to contend with the champion Boston Celtics for Eastern Conference supremacy.
Bridges has played 474 straight games to begin his career, the longest streak in the NBA over the past 40 seasons. He is one of four players with 1,500 points, 150 3-pointers and 75 steals in each of the past two seasons, joining Luka Doncic, Anthony Edwards and Jayson Tatum.
Bridges is owed $23.3 million and $24.9 million over the final two years of his current contract. He is eligible to sign a two-year extension on Oct. 1 and can extend for an additional three years and $113 million in six months.
Brooklyn, meanwhile, has firmly picked a direction, not only by moving on from Bridges but by sending out several of the first-round pick rights it received from the Phoenix Suns -- along with Bridges -- in the Kevin Durant blockbuster trade in February 2022.
Now, Brooklyn has control of its 2025 and 2026 drafts -- both of which are considered very strong with high-end prospects, including Cooper Flagg in 2025 and Cameron Boozer, the son of former NBA All-Star Carlos Boozer, in 2026.
Bogdanovic, 35, averaged 15.2 points between the Knicks and the Detroit Pistons last season. The Nets drafted him in2011, and he played the first 2 years of his career with them.
Information from ESPN Stats & Information and ESPN's Bobby Marks was used in this report.
