In a blockbuster NBA trade on the eve of the draft, the New York Knicks went almost all-in shoring up its current lineup with the acquisition of Mikal Bridges.
The Brooklyn Nets are officially picking a lane.
After spending the 2023-24 season trying — and failing — to be a fringe play-in team, the club brought in a new head coach, former Sacramento Kings associate head coach Jordi Fernández. Now, Brooklyn general manager Sean Marks has decided to make a massive trade and embrace the tank.
Marks is flipping his best player, two-way veteran swingman Mikal Bridges, plus a 2026 Nets second round draft pick, to the New York Knicks in exchange for a whopping six future draft picks, plus one swap and the $19 million contract of little-used Knicks power forward Bojan Bogdanovic. Brooklyn will receive the Knicks’ unprotected first-round picks in 2026, 2027, 2029 and 2031, a protected Milwaukee Bucks 2025 first-round selection New York added in an earlier trade, a 2025 Knicks second-rounder, and a 2028 pick swap.
The deal will reunite Bridges with three of his former NCAA title-winning Villanova teammates: all-NBA Knicks point guard Jalen Brunson, and wings Josh Hart and Donte DiVincenzo. Bridges, Brunson, and DiVincenzo were both on two Villanova championship teams, in 2016 and ’18, while Hart was only on the first. He left for the 2017 NBA Draft after a four-year stint under Jay Wright.
