Knicks send four unprotected picks to Nets for Mikal Bridges

The New York Knicks agreed to send Bojan Bogdanovic in addition to four unprotected first-round NBA Draft picks for 2025, 2027, 2029 and 2031, a protected 2025 first rounder via the Milwaukee Bucks, and an unprotected 2028 first-round swap to the Brooklyn Nets for Mikal Bridges and a 2026 second rounder, ESPN reported on Tuesday.

This deal became the first blockbuster trade during the NBA offseason and could be a huge boost to the Knicks, who reached the Eastern Conference semifinals last season.

When Bogdanovic was acquired by New York from the Detroit Pistons in February, he was expected to improve the team's spacing and scoring ability via isolation. Instead, he averaged a career-low 19.2 minutes per game for the Knicks and only contributed 10.4 points per contest, including 1.6 three-pointers per game at a 37 percent shooting rate. He made just four appearances for the team in the postseason.

As a result, the Knicks have decided to move on by trading Bogdanovic for Bridges, who developed into a solid isolation scorer for the Nets. He has averaged 21.2 points per game since being traded to Brooklyn from the Phoenix Suns in February 2023 as a part of a multi-player package for Kevin Durant.

Bridges had already developed into an elite wing defender with the Suns, and further improved his offensive skills off the dribble with the Nets. He drained 2.6 shots per game from downtown at a 37.3 percent shooting rate for Brooklyn.

He can now join Donte DiVincenzo to better stretch the floor for the Knicks and help ease the offensive load from Jalen Brunson's shoulders.

Bridges will be reunited with three of his old teammates from Villanova University on the Knicks. Brunson, Josh Hart and DiVincenzo are all former Wildcats who won the National Collegiate Athletics Association (NCAA) Division I men's basketball tournament championship twice, in 2016 and 2018.