The Knicks, Rockets, and Jazz are targeting Mikal Bridges as their premier offseason acquisition.
Mikal Bridges is one of the premier two-way forwards in the NBA and one who has been generating tons of trade interest in the last few years. While the Nets haven’t agreed to previous offers for Mikal, the Knicks, Rockets, and Jazz will be taking a run at the 27-year-old this offseason, according to Jake Fischer.
“Brooklyn Nets swingman Mikal Bridges, according to league sources, is a player to monitor among Utah’s most aggressive aspirations. The Jazz are said to be right in the mix with Houston, holding the No. 3 pick, and New York, where three of Bridges’ college teammates currently play, among the teams that continue to check with Brooklyn about the availability of its 27-year-old swingman.”
Bridges has been a coveted trade piece for years now, with the Phoenix Suns not doing the Kevin Durant trade in the summer of 2022 because they didn’t want to part with Bridges, with Mat Ishbia forcing the deal through after he became owner in the winter of 2023. Since then, the Nets have been rebuffing multi-pick packages which would replenish their draft assets.
It won’t be easy to pry Bridges away from a Nets organization that’s been going out of its way to make sure he remains on the team, but all three teams have offers they could put together.
What Could These Teams Offer For Bridges?
We have to start with the team least likely to land Bridges in a trade, the New York Knicks. The Nets and Knicks have only made four trades with each other in NBA history, with the last deal coming in 1983. Given the outward recruitment of Bridges by his former college teammates Josh Hart and Jalen Brunson, the Nets would rather lose Bridges for free than trade him to the Knicks.
The Jazz have real assets to offer the Nets, given they have one of the most robust future draft asset pools primarily because of the deals that sent Rudy Gobert and Donovan Mitchell to their current squads. They even have a top-four protected Lakers pick in 2027.
With the franchise reportedly looking to move on from Walker Kessler while having an inexact young core, the Nets could get young picks and players in this deal. Getting Taylor Hendricks would be the real win, as a package centered around Kessler, Hendricks, and picks would set the Nets up for their future.
The Rockets own the No. 3 pick in the 2024 NBA Draft, a pick that belongs to Brooklyn but they traded it away for James Harden in 2021. Not having a draft pick has severely restricted how they’ll add young talent to their franchise, so getting that pick back along with a proven young star like Jalen Green would be a fantastic deal. The Nets turned down an offer with Green and draft picks at the 2024 trade deadline.
If the Rockets throw in the 2026 Nets first-round pick they own, the Nets would be foolish to continue turning it down. Bridges has two years left on his contract and the Nets should maximize his value while they can, or else they’re in danger of losing him for cheap as an expiring contract or for nothing whatsoever in 2026.
Copyright © 2024
Leave a Reply