Knicks Win Over Reggie Miller With Offseason Moves

The move for Mikal Bridges appears to be building bridges between the New York Knicks and one of their most recurring rivals.

New York’s offseason activities have won the approval of Reggie Miller, who temporarily buried his metropolitan hatchet against the Knicks to praise what the team has done since falling to his Indiana Pacers in last spring’s Eastern Conference Semifinals.

One could say that it has been anything but an offseason for New York, which re-upped with both OG Anunoby and Jalen Brunson on long-term deals while adding another Villanova alum to the fold in the form of former Brooklyn Nets star Mikal Bridges. The Brunson deal has proven particularly headline-worthy, as the franchise face left nine figures on the table to extend his stay immediately.

All that and more, Miller claims, is enough to render the Knicks “poised” to make a run at the Boston Celtics’ Eastern Conference supremacy.

“The Knicks won and are winning the offseason,” Miller firmly declared on an episode of USA Today’s web series “Sports Seriously.” “People need to understand how much team chemistry factors into winning when you have a solid locker room and a solid base.”

Miller, reprising his role as public enemy No. 1 among the Madison Square Garden faithful upon the Pacers’ playoff visits, offered his old adversaries an “A-plus-plus-plus-plus” for what New York pulled off this time around in its effort to get over the conference semifinal hump.

The Knicks earned that grade by continuing to play up to their “Nova Knicks” persona, bringing in Bridges to work with Brunson and fellow former Villanova Wildcats Donte DiVincenzo and Josh Hart. The quartet collaborated on Villanova’s national championship in 2016 while Bridges, Brunson, and DiVincenzo made a return trip while Hart was in the NBA two years later.

“I’m no longer calling them the New York Knicks.,” Miller told host Mackenzie Salmon. “They’re the Nova Knicks.”

Miller says that losing top center Isaiah Hartenstein could be an issue but that the Knicks can succeed in small ball affairs when Julius Randle returns. The Pacers legend certainly relished his former employers’ takedown of the Knicks last postseason but hinted that it could’ve been different if Randle, out since late January with a shoulder injury, partook in the series.

“Think about that: Randle didn’t even play at all during the playoffs last year and the Knicks were that successful,” Miller said. “Having that team chemistry will go a long way.”

That team chemistry is set to continue brewing after Brunson’s sacrificial extension, one said to have kept $113 million in the Knicks’ pockets. Miller believes Brunson will never be hurting for money thanks to his status as a metropolitan hero, but, even if he doesn’t make back all nine figures, the prospect of extended championship contention makes reimbursement irrelevant.

“Will ever get that $113 million back? Who cares?” Miller, currently serving as a game day analyst for TNT’s NBA coverage, rhetorically asked. “It factors into winning a championship and being surrounded.”

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