The Mikal Bridges trade is finalized. What’s next?

Yesterday, the Knicks and Nets agreed on an expansion to the previously agreed to Mikal Bridges trade. Tomorrow, the Knicks will officially announce the deal, welcoming the Villanova alumni across the Brooklyn Bridge for a hefty package.

For those not dialed in, the official trade looks like this:

NYK Receives: Mikal Bridges, Keita Bates-Diop, 2026 MIL/DET/ORL 2nd (least favorable)

BKN Receives: Bojan Bogdanovic, Shake Milton (sign-and-trade), Mamadi Diakite, 2025 NYK 1st, 2025 MIL 1st, 2027 NYK 1st, 2028 NYK Swap Rights, 2029 NYK 1st, 2031 NYK 1st, 2025 BKN 2nd

That’s a doozy. For the last few days, there were countless theories about a potential expansion of the trade, including various Nets fans dreaming of Deuce McBride being added. Yesterday, we learned that the leverage never lied with Sean Marks, as the two sides agreed to ensure the Knicks would not be hard-capped at the first apron a week ago. Turns out, signing Shake Milton to be a benchwarmer had its benefits!

In the complicated new world we live in, the finances are all that matters here. The Knicks are sending out $24.2m in salary, but bringing back $25.9m? How does that work?

According to Bobby Marks, Bates-Diop’s minimum salary does not count as additional salary for apron purposes. As a result, this trade means the Knicks are sending out more than they’re receiving, lifting the hard cap. However, this may have bigger implications (more on that later).

The Knicks also made sure to partially guarantee Mamadi Diakite’s contract ($1.23m of $2.3m) to make the finances work.

Two other tidbits of news came out yesterday in terms of rookie deals. The Knicks officially signed both Pacôme Dadiet and Tyler Kolek, their top two picks. Dadiet signed for just 80% of the rookie scale, $1.81 million, the bare minimum. Meanwhile, Kolek signed a rare four-year deal, using the second-round exception.

Combined, the two draftees will make a combined $3.9 million. Add that with the 10 currently rostered Knicks and the unlikely bonuses for apron purposes? $173.25 million for 12 players.

The first apron is at $178.1m. The Knicks still have the $5.2 million Taxpayer MLE at their disposal, regardless of if they exceed the first apron.

Filling Out The Roster

The best-case scenario for the Knicks would be to maximize the assets at their disposal. They still have bird rights on Precious Achiuwa, meaning they can sign him and use their MLE on somebody else. Let’s say, Achiuwa will sign a deal for $5.5 million this year and the Knicks sign another player to the max allowed by the MLE ($5.2 million). That puts them at about $184 million, just under $5 million shy of the second apron. From there, they’d have one roster spot left, potentially reserved for a certain former Knick and Wildcat?

Free agency isn’t the only path, of course. The Knicks have been linked in the trade market to, specifically, Walker Kessler of the Utah Jazz. A potential pitfall of this move is that, due to the rule against aggregating minimum salaries, the Knicks could not acquire Kessler by, say, sending Jericho Sims and Keita Bates-Diop. Now, a trade would work with just one of them going over, but the issue would be that it would cap them at the first apron, which is a no-go.

Another possibility is pursuing another sign-and-trade, sending Precious Achiuwa to Utah. That way, the Knicks could grab a very good backup big and still use their $5.2 million mid-level exception somewhere else.

What a Roster Could Look Like

The way I see it, this is the most likely team we’ll see:

Brunson-Bridges-Anunoby-Randle-Robinson

McBride-DiVincenzo-Hart-Achiuwa-Sims

Kolek-Arcidiacono-Dadiet-BatesDiop-Hukporti

2-way: McCullar, Toppin, TBD

I’m not sure what they would do with the MLE, but here’s a roster I could see if they trade for Walker Kessler, shipping out Deuce McBride (unfortunately) to satiate Danny Ainge:

Brunson-Bridges-Anunoby-Randle-Robinson

Lowry-DiVincenzo-Hart-Achiuwa-Kessler

Kolek-Arcidiacono-Dadiet-BatesDiop-Sims

2-way: Hukporti, Toppin, McCullar

Why not go all-in on Villanova? Has any team ever had six players from a college? Why not sign Saddiq Bey to a vet min? How crazy can we get?