NBA Rumors: Nets Sought ‘as Many as’ 6 1sts in Mikal Bridges Trade Before Knicks Deal

The New York Knicks paid a massive price to trade for Mikal Bridges, but the Brooklyn Nets reportedly wanted even more at one point.

“There were other teams that were trying to trade for Mikal Bridges in this last couple of weeks because of some statements Joe Tsai made about a rebuild. The Nets, I am told, were asking for as many as six first-round picks for Mikal Bridges,” ESPN’s Brian Windhorst said on the Hoop Collective (5:48 mark). “Other teams that they talked to asked for six. So I guess if framed that way, the Knicks were able to talk ’em down with just five and a swap.”

The Knicks traded Bojan Bogdanović, four unprotected first-round picks, one protected first-round pick and a pick swap for Bridges on Tuesday.

Bridges is a 27-year-old who has never made an All-Star team. To put the haul into context, the Utah Jazz only got three unprotected first-round picks for Donovan Mitchell (along with Lauri Markkanen and Collin Sexton). When the Nets traded Kevin Durant, they landed four unprotected firsts along with Mikal Bridges, Cam Johnson and Jae Crowder.

While this was a trade centered almost entirely on picks—Bogdanović is a fine veteran player but was used mostly as a matching salary—it’s hard to fathom putting Bridges in the same sentence as Durant and Mitchell.

Bridges averaged 19.6 points, 4.5 rebounds and 3.6 assists last season, solid but disappointing numbers for anyone expecting a true star turn. The Villanova product looked primed for a true breakout after coming to the Nets in February 2023, but he struggled under the weight of being the 1A option over a full season.

Windhorst said teams have been expecting the Nets to rebuild for around a month (15:21 mark), provided at least one team met their eye-popping demands:

“About a month ago, Joe Tsai was at a conference. He was on a dais. He got asked about the Nets. He basically indicated he didn’t want to be in the middle anymore, and the league’s ears perked up.

“Offer phones started ringing for Mikal Bridges, Dorian Finney-Smith, Cam Johnson and others. And their prices were sky high, so sky high that, in fact, I know of at least one team where they were trying to acquire Mikel Bridges because they thought it might help them acquire another free agent.

“It was like, let’s do a package deal here. And they were told an outrageous level of assets required for Mikal Bridges. So teams were like, okay, they want to rebuild, but they don’t really want to rebuild. They’re just kind of pretending that they do.”

Bridges will return to a more comfortable role as a 3-and-D player with the Knicks, which should help his efficiency return. The Knicks are expected to be aggressive in attempting to re-sign OG Anunoby to pair with Bridges on the wing, giving them arguably the best 1-2 punch of defenders in the NBA.

Whether that pairing ultimately turns the Knicks into a championship contender remains to be seen. Jalen Brunson helped spearhead the Knicks’ run to the second round of the playoffs, but he could use a true second in command—one who is arguably better than the returning Julius Randle.

Unless the long-term plan is to package Randle with Anunoby or Bridges in a trade down the line, the Knicks might have just guaranteed a plateau for their future.