Mikal Bridges salutes Brooklyn Nets in latest New York Knicks podcast

Time is dwindling for Mikal Bridges to play his “in-between” game with New York City’s two leading basketball suppliers. In a few weeks, he’ll suit up in his new Knicks uni and new number at Knicks Media Day. That will be one milestone. Then, assuming his consecutive game streak continues, the next one will be November 15 at The Garden when the Brooklyn Nets take on the New York Knicks.

This offseason, B̶r̶o̶o̶k̶l̶y̶n̶ Manhattan Bridges has been wrapped up in a golden blanket by fans on one side of the Big Apple while the other fanbase continues to shoo him away. While the Nets don’t have the same pull as the Knicks in terms of influence, his trade this summer created an even larger divide within the game’s largest market, forming an intriguing PR puzzle with no exact answer.

Today, Bridges is officially a Knick, and has been for some time now. But while he has both his feet in Manhattan including a condo downtown, he’s yet to turn and around and go on the attack.

When the Nets shipped their swingman over the river to the New York Knicks, there was no going back — not for Bridges or anyone. Make no mistake about that. The deal chilled a 40+ year cold war between the teams, but started a hellfire of discourse between its fanbases, certain to burn on for years with their futures now intertwined.

But Bridges himself has had this offseason to quietly transition as things settle down. While Nets fans surely felt animosity toward him immediately after the early July Woj bombs started dropping, rightfully so, their disgust still hasn’t reached peak form, not yet at least.

While Bridges jumping ship feels traitorous, even with the Nets getting a king’s ransom for him, trust me, you won’t really dislike the guy until he hits his first three against Brooklyn, in a Knicks jersey, and you spot him flashing his gun-shooter celebration in Cam Thomas’ face. I assure you, that will be the night be becomes a true villain, not one in June and July.

So right now, Bridges is just kind of “there,” having identified himself as a good guy turned bad for the Nets, with his guns absolutely pointed at Brooklyn, but yet to fire them.

He’ll have to turn the safety off sooner rather than later, with the offseason now in its final stage and the Nets set to play the Knicks less than a month into the regular season. But in this antebellum’s waning weeks, Bridges did make one more kind gesture toward Brooklyn while appearing on The Roommates Show, a podcast hosted by his new teammates Jalen Brunson and Josh Hart. (It was also where Bridges made his disdain for the Nets fanbase well known back in March.)

During a live episode that took place in Central Park over the weekend, Bridges appeared along with co-host Matt Hillman, Jon Stewart and another former Net/Knick, Stephon Marbury.

As he always does, Hart went out of his way to speak poorly on the Nets, citing their recent woes and how they contradict New York’s surging stock. When asked about how it feels to switch sides, Bridges, however, didn’t take the bait. Instead, he shouted out Brooklyn for developing him into the player he is today.

“Y’all should appreciate Brooklyn because it made me better,” said Bridges. “F**k, my game grew there.”

I’ll leave it up to the audience to determine whether or not this was genuine or purely a PR chess move. It was likely a bit of both, but there’s no telling what goes on inside anyone’s head these days.

Bridges’ departure from the Nets has been murky from the start. SNY’s Ian Begley reported with persistence that Bridges not only asked to be traded — but planned to make things difficult for the Nets by telling other teams he wouldn’t play for anyone other than the Knicks to ward off other suitors.

Jake Fischer, who was one of the first to sniff out James Harden’s interest in leaving Brooklyn for Philly two years ago, told a much different story, reporting that the Knicks simply gave the Nets an offer that was too good to refuse. Sean Marks also refuted the idea that Bridges asked for a trade, stating that doing so would be against his “character.”

No matter how you feel about Bridges … or the trade, this salute to the Nets won’t save him from being booed by their fans. At the same time, while sitting next to Hart and surrounded by a sea of Knicks fans who echoed their own boos with every mentioning of the Nets, he could have pleased thousands with the slightest of jabs toward Brooklyn, but didn’t. Take all of that as you will.