Will the Knicks’ Extension of Mikal Bridges be a Bridge to Nowhere?
The Knicks have locked in Mikal Bridges for four more seasons, but will their core be enough to bridge the championship divide?
The New York Knicks have extended their Villanova window for at least another three seasons. With Jalen Brunson and Josh Hart under team control through 2027-28 (Brunson has a player option for 2028-29), Mikal Bridges was the only living Wildcat in New York without a long-term extension, but that indignity has been remedied. With Brunson, Karl-Anthony Towns, OG Anunoby, Hart, and now Bridges locked up for the next two seasons (and possibly more), the Knicks are committed to contention, but will this era end up as a bridge to nowhere?
Per reporting by Shams Charania of ESPN, the Knicks and Mikal Bridges have agreed to a four-year, $150 million extension. The deal includes a fourth-year player option in 2029-30 and a trade kicker. Per NBA rules, Bridges cannot be traded for six months following his extension. However, the 2025-26 NBA trade deadline is February 6, which means he will be eligible to be traded this season should he officially sign the deal before August 6th. Also of note, Bridges received six million less than his maximum extension figure over the life of his deal, but that only nets out to a $1.3 million difference in first-year salary.
In addition to the final year of Bridges’ current contract, he’s now under contract for five years and $174.9 million should he exercise his player option, and four years and $133.38 million should he opt out. The Knicks now project to be one of the most expensive teams in the league over the next three seasons, despite securing a discount on Jalen Brunson’s extension last offseason. While they’ll remain an excellent team through 2028-29, this has become an incredibly expensive and aging roster.
*Bridges’ salary figures are estimates based on the assumption that he will receive 8% raises. The average age is based on players under contract
Should the Knicks keep the band together, the 2027-28 season is likely to be a significant inflection point. Karl-Anthony Towns has a $61 million player option, and Josh Hart has a $22.3 million team option; if exercised, it could see the Knicks owe $213.3 million to seven players. The second apron is projected to be $232,789,000 by then. At that point, Hart will be 32 and Towns 31, which could see the Knicks negotiate extensions that decline their options and then extend them out from more manageable numbers. However, that’s a rich-person problem for another day.
As it pertains to Bridges, the outlay of pick capital to acquire him continues to cloud his reputation. Last July, the Knicks sent the Brooklyn Nets five unprotected first-round picks, an unprotected first-round swap, and a second-round pick to bring Bridges across the East River. For a player without an All-Star appearance, that’s a significant cost. However, two of those firsts and a second-rounder have already conveyed, netting the Nets the 19th, 26th, and 36th picks in the 2025 NBA draft.
Considering the Knicks could have Bridges for six seasons and $198.2 million, a $33.03 million annual average value, the cost of three first-round picks and a swap from 2026 on, while pricey, isn’t nearly as dire as some have made it out to be. The killers could be the 2029 and 2031 picks, but hopefully, the Knicks bag enough wins that it’s a moot point. And even if you’re a pick hound, you have to consider the financial benefits the Knicks were able to leverage over the past two seasons through Bridges.
Last season, by turning Bojan Bogdanovic, Mamadi Diakite, and Shake Milton into Bridges, the Knicks were able to significantly upgrade their roster without taking on much salary. This allowed them to add Karl-Anthony Towns and dodge the second apron, and Bridges $24.9 million salary this season has them just below the $209 million first apron. Also, if Jalen Brunson took a discount because of the Bridges’ addition, then it was worth its weight in picks.
The Knicks are no stranger to the luxury tax, but being able to stay below the second and first aprons now will benefit them tremendously in the coming years as they become increasingly expensive. Bridges’ contract functionally allowed them to be serious contenders now, while delaying the contender-financial-clock by two seasons. That alone could keep their window of contention open for an additional season.
Despite the financial benefits of acquiring Bridges on his current deal, his on-court performance in his first season with the Knicks was much maligned. After struggling from three to start the season, shooting 33.9% on 6.8 attempts over the first 25 games, he stabilized and converted 36.3% of his triples on 5.1 attempts per game the rest of the way. While that is a far cry from the 37.2% 3-point shooting on 7.2 attempts he posted in his final season in Brooklyn, it bested the league average of 36%. Bridges shot looked ugly, but it was more effective than he was given credit for.
His first impression wasn’t exactly great, but by the end of the season, Bridges had put in another strong offensive season. Wings who can average 17.6 points per game on above league average efficiency don’t exactly grow on trees. The only players classified as small forwards by Basketball Reference who averaged more points on better efficiency from the floor (eFG%) than Bridges were LeBron James and Michael Porter Jr. Considering those two are out of position power forwards, you could say, not that I would, that Bridges was in a class of his own– he wasn’t, and don’t say that, but you get the point.
Not only was Bridges’ herky-jerky shot put under the microscope, but Knicks fans also found his defensive impact to be wanting. Bridges had been labeled an elite defender after finishing second in Defensive Player of the Year voting in 2021-22, but his defensive impact was perceived to be far below that exemplary standard. While it’s almost a certainty that his defense has declined as he enters his late 20s, his surroundings in New York asked him to shoulder an almost impossible load.
He led the league in minutes played and became the first player since Bradley Beal in 2018-19 to eclipse 3,000 minutes. On top of his massive minutes total, he had to defend the opposing team’s primary ball handler so Jalen Brunson could be as far from defense as possible, and then he had Karl-Anthony Towns as his backline of defense. To put it bluntly, Bridges was set up to look like a shell of himself on defense. He was overextended and stretched so thin that he might as well have been Reed Richards.
The Knicks’ defense had issues, but Bridges wasn’t the problem, and expecting a wing to put out fires all over the court is wishful thinking. Given a realistic load, Bridges is still a plus-defender, even if he isn’t a Defensive Player of the Year candidate. To tinge Bridges’ first season with the Knicks with the stench of failure is far too harsh. He was eighth among small forwards in points per game, did it on above league average efficiency, played an insane minutes load, and did everything possible to make up for the Knicks’ two piss-poor All-NBA defenders. That’s probably not worth the pick outlay it took to get him, but it’s also not the worst trade in human history.
The Eastern Conference is wide open, possibly for years to come, and the Knicks are now extremely well-positioned to be in the mix at the top of the conference for the next three seasons. With Bridges locked up, they have one of the league’s most talented cores and should have few issues securing at least a top-three seed. A financial reckoning will come, but that’s just the reality of the modern NBA. The Knicks don’t have that many real problems, and the small ones they do aren’t Bridges’ fault. Now that he’s locked in for the long haul, hopefully, Knicks fans will start to realize this team is on a bridge to somewhere.
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