Knicks Mikal Bridges to face Nets for first time since team-altering deal
Knicks fans were mostly ecstatic.Nets fans were disappointed but understood.The blockbuster trade that sent Mikal Bridges from Brooklyn to Broadway for five first-round draft picks, a second-rounder and a first-round pick swap felt like a seismic move that said a lot about the directions the two franchises were headed.The Knicks were going for it.
The Nets were rebuilding again.On Friday night, the two meet for the first time since the dramatic deal.“I think it’ll be good to see my guys,” Bridges said of the reunion at MSG.“I have a lot of good friends over there, even the coaching staff that’s there, all the way up to [general manager] Sean Marks and [assistant general manager] Andy [Birdsong].
I’m real close with a lot of those guys, so it will be good to see them.”So far, the trade hasn’t worked out as most imagined it would, at least not yet.The Knicks are off to a slow start at 5-6, a new team still trying to find an identity amid extremely high expectations.
The Nets are only one game in the loss column behind them, outperforming the low bar experts set for them by a wide margin under new head coach Jordi Fernandez.Bridges is symbolic of the Knicks’ inconsistent start.He hasn’t been a flop, but he also has yet to establish himself.
His 15.6 scoring average would be his lowest since the 2021-22 campaign with the Suns.He’s shooting just 30.4 percent from 3-point range on 6.3 attempts.
His rebounding (3.8) is down, and he has a minus-0.6 NET rating, meaning the Knicks are being outscored by 0.6 points per 100 possessions with Bridges on the floor.Of course, it’s only 11 games.The Knicks as a whole are still searching for the right mix, and they have dealt with injuries to key reserves Precious Achiuwa and Cam Payne, along with the season-long absence of center Mitchell Robinson.
Furthermore, coach Tom Thibodeau’s Knicks teams have always started slow.Last year’s group was 17-15 through 32 games.
The year before, they were 12-13 ...