Perhaps you were worried that the New York Knicks didn’t have enough players from Villanova to have success with Jalen Brunson, Josh Hart, and Donte DiVincenzo this season. Don’t worry anymore.
The Knicks will acquire Michal Bridges and a second-round pick from the Brooklyn Nets in exchange for Bojan Bogdanovic (five first-round picks and a second-round pick), a league source confirmed Tuesday evening. The Nets are also making a trade with the Houston Rockets to get back their pick in the James Harden trade, exchanging the first-round pick that Phoenix owes them in the Kevin Durant trade.
The Nets traded Michal Bridges to the Knicks, sources say. @TheAthletic @Stadium. pic.twitter.com/whfKZ66tmZ
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) June 26, 2024
Source: The Brooklyn Nets are trading the 2025 Suns pick swap, 2027 Suns first-rounder, first-rounder and 2029 first-rounder to the Houston Rockets in exchange for their own 2025 pick swap and 2026 first-rounder James Harden.
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) June 26, 2024
ESPN has reported details of the trade, which includes the Knicks’ four unprotected first-round picks, the Bucks’ protected first-round pick, and a future second-round pick and Bogdanovic. There are a lot of picks being thrown around. There’s a lot to infer from this. So let’s break out the red ink and give this deal some grades.
Knicks acquire Michal Bridges and 2nd round pick
Last season, the Knicks finished as the No. 2 seed in the East and advanced to the second round of the playoffs before falling against Indiana after injuries to several key players, including OG Anunoby.
The Knicks acquired Anunoby midway through the season and took off after making that move. It helped lift them to the top of the East, despite Anunoby missing 27 regular season games after the trade with an elbow injury and suffering a hamstring injury in the Indiana series. That’s why the recruitment of Bridges, who has not missed a single game during his six-year NBA career, becomes even more important. (Technically, Bridges missed one game in the 2022-23 season when he was traded from Phoenix to Brooklyn in the Kevin Durant deal, but the NBA doesn’t count that as a missed game. In fact, he played in 83 games that season, according to the schedules of the two teams he played for. .)
deeper
‘I just want to play every game’: Nets’ Michal Bridges is more than the NBA’s Iron Man, and he’s determined
We can start by talking about how Bridges, 27, is one of the better two-way players in the NBA. His defense has taken a downturn as he has been asked to run more offense in Brooklyn, but he has been outstanding over the past few years. He went from being a decent safety valve on offense with a great defense in Phoenix to a 21-point-per-game scorer with a solid defense in Brooklyn. Placing him on the Knicks would allow him to put a lot more energy into the defensive side of the court, and pairing him with Anunoby would allow New York to seriously clamp down on opposing scorers. The Knicks still need to re-sign Anunoby as a free agent, but that has been expected to happen since Anunoby was traded to New York in late December.
That’s a lot of draft capital to give up for Bridges. Essentially, five first-round picks and one second-round pick is a Rudy Gobert-level package. But adding Bridges along with Hart, DiVincenzo and Brunson strengthens a team that already boasts some of the best chemistry in the league. It may cost Knicks big man Isaiah Hartenstein in free agency, but it’s already going to be difficult to retain him unless he gets a discount. We’ll find out if Julius Randle is still in the Knicks’ long-term plans after this move. However, they have a loaded rotation to fight for supremacy in the East.
A grade
The Nets acquire Bojan Bogdanović, six first-round picks, their own 2025 pick swap from Houston, and a second-round pick.
There are a lot of picks flying around these two trades with the Nets, so let’s break down everything they appear to be acquiring in addition to bringing back Bogdanović, who played in Brooklyn from 2014 to 2017. Here are the picks the Nets get in this trade:
- four unprotected first-round picks from the Knicks in 2025, 2027, 2029 and 2031;
- 2025 top-four protected first-round pick from Milwaukee via New York;
- Swap of 2025 first-round picks owed to Houston in Harden trade;
- a 2026 first-round pick owed to Houston in the Harden trade;
- 2028 Knicks first-rounder and unprotected pick swap;
- 2025 second-round pick from New York.
That’s more picks than Rudy Gobert set up on a single play in Quin Snyder’s offense! (That joke is niche, but I hope the editors don’t delete it.)
This is a surprising move considering the news that the Nets turned down Jalen Green and at least four first-round picks from Houston at the trade deadline. Between these two deals, they have acquired a huge number of picks to restock their cupboards and can now benefit from struggling on the court once again. (Houston has the third pick in this draft because of the pick the Nets owed them in the Harden deal.)
The Nets are buying into the idea that the Knicks will be bad again (for Brooklyn) by 2029 at the latest. This remains to be seen, as the Knicks have assembled an incredible team and could see increasing success even in the Brunson era. Owning their picks again will be important as the Nets enter next year’s draft class loaded with top prospects who could be franchise changers. Brooklyn is fortunate that the third overall pick that went to Houston this season is in a down draft year.
Brooklyn now essentially acquired nine first-round picks along with Cameron Johnson in the 2023 Durant trade. We’ll see what the Nets can do to rebuild this roster over the next few seasons in a lucrative market.
Class A
The Rockets acquire a 2025 pick swap from the Suns, a 2027 first, a 2029 first, and a pick swap from Brooklyn.
As the Rockets shuffle around some first-round picks in preparation for a possible aggressive summer trade, here’s a look at what they’re getting from the Nets. This is what they got in the Brooklyn trade:
- 2025 first round pick swap from Phoenix to Brooklyn via Kevin Durant trade.
- Phoenix’s 2027 first-round pick was given to Brooklyn in the Durant trade.
- The 2029 first-round pick will be determined by whether Phoenix or Dallas has the advantage.
- The 2029 first-round pick will be replaced with the less favorable Phoenix or Dallas pick.
Under new head coach Ime Udoka, the Rockets surprised many by going 41-41 last season. Young players such as 21-year-old Alferen Senggun and 22-year-old Jalen Green have grown remarkably, and 21-year-old Jabari Smith Jr. has also taken on his role. We also saw good things in 2023 first-round picks Amen Thompson (21) and Cam Whitmore (19), as well as 2022 first-rounder Tari Eason (23). Veterans Fred VanVleet, Dillon Brooks and Jeff Green have proven to be useful mentors for these young players. The Rockets no longer want to miss the playoffs and are now armed with impressive draft picks and other assets that could make them major players on the trade market.
Perhaps Houston can be confident that the Phoenix Suns’ three-star core isn’t going anywhere and try to offer a pick for Durant or Devin Booker again at some point in the next season or two. Phoenix wants to win now, but after last season’s first-round win over Minnesota, things could get ugly quickly. Regardless of who the Rockets target on the trade market, they have one of the most impressive treasure chests of trade assets that could tempt teams with disgruntled stars looking to win elsewhere.
This trade might be the first win-win-win we’ve seen in a while, but that depends on what the Nets and Rockets do with all this pick shuffling.
Class A-
(Top photo: Nathaniel S. Butler / NBAE via Getty Images)
