Knicks insider perfectly summarizes why Mikal Bridges is such a good fit in New York | Sporting News

The New York Knicks’ offseason is not over, but it seems unlikely that they’ll do anything bigger than the Mikal Bridges trade.

The Knicks and Nets completed the Bridges trade recently, with both sides adding players to make salaries work. However, the biggest non-Bridges part of the trade remained in tact: the Knicks sent four unprotected first-round picks, a protected pick via the Milwaukee Bucks, and a pick swap, for Bridges.

The trade remains a massive haul for Bridges, who, despite being very good, has also never made an All-Star game.

However, on the “No Dunks” podcast, The Athletic’s Knicks reporter Fred Katz perfectly summarized why Bridges is a perfect fit for New York and why the price they paid is understandable.

“When you go through trade value, it’s not just about how good you are. It’s about how good you are and how well you fit. And the thing with Bridges is that he is one of the best players in the NBA who you can plop on to any team in the league, and he would make them better on both sides of the ball without disrupting their ecosystem on either side of the ball.

“Like, if you take LeBron James, obviously he’s a better player than Mikal Bridges, but you’re gonna change some stuff on your roster. You’re gonna be like, ‘We have LeBron James, let’s change how we run our offense to optimize LeBron James.’

“I think the value in Bridges — and it’s similarly with OG Anunoby — is that you can throw him on to your roster and you don’t have to change a thing about your offense or your defense, and he’s going to make both sides substantially better.”

Throw in that Bridges played at Villanova and won a national championship alongside the “Nova Knicks” of Jalen Brunson, Josh Hart, and Donte DiVincenzo, and it makes the fit that much easier.

As Katz noted, Bridges figures to slot into the starting lineup alongside Brunson, Anunoby, Julius Randle, and Mitchell Robinson. That gives the Knicks’ two elite wing defenders who can both space the floor and attack close-outs to create their own offense. It moves DiVincenzo and Hart — who could barely come off the floor during the playoffs because of all of the Knicks injuries — to the bench, giving the Knicks two more versatile wings who can play both sides of the floor to bring in as reserves.

Of course, like all other NBA teams, the Knicks still have to take the floor to see if their team meshes. But compared to every other team that made big roster upgrades, the Knicks’ makes the most sense on paper and should require almost zero adjustment.